The Rescue
by Emilie Monaghan
Summary: The Losties were on the island for over three years when they were rescued. The return to the world. Follows from mid season two, then it is OU. Mostly CC but everyone is featured.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Think back to Mid season two. The losties have been on the island for three years when they are rescued. The story is their return to the world they once knew. Mostly CC but will include everyone. **

**AN/ Boone and Shannon never died. Just because they are fun to play with.**

**Disclaimer. I do not own Lost or it's Characters. They belong to ABC. If I owned them Charlie would still be alive.  
**

Claire knew that she should get up but, she was so comfortable, she continued to lie there. She reached over for Charlie but only found pillows. That was when she remembered where she was. She sat up and looked around the room she had been sleeping in. She still couldn't believe that after over three years they had finally been rescued and were now ridding a cruise ship to LA. They would all finally be going home.

Just then the door opened and Charlie came in carrying Aaron. "Well, look who finally decided to wake up." Charlie said smiling.

"Morning." Claire said snuggling back into the blankets.

"Morning luv. How'd you sleep?" He asked putting Aaron down on the bed, where he promptly crawled over to his mom and curled up beside her. She wrapped and arm around him and answered. "Good. I still can't believe that this is real though. The bed, the ship, the rescue; I feel like any second someone is going to wake me up and tell me this is all just a dream." Charlie moved in closer to Claire and cupped her face in his hands. "This is real. We've been rescued and soon you, me, Aaron and the baby are going to start a whole new life far away from polar bears and monsters and that bloody island."

Claire's smile grew bigger. "So what were you and Aaron up to so early?"

"Early? Its past eleven luv. Someone had to get our boy breakfast while you were sleeping the day away." Even after all this time Claire still felt warm inside whenever Charlie referred to Aaron as his son. It was one of the things she loved most about him.

"Did you bring me back anything?"

"You were asleep." He said plopping down on the mattress near her and Aaron.

"But I'm so hungry." Claire said acting like she was going to faint. "Couldn't you go get me something?" She said smiling jokingly at him.

"Why don't you go get something yourself?"

"But me and Aaron are so comfy. Aaron tell your daddy he should go get us something to eat." She said teasingly.

"Yeah, and cereal. I want cereal!" Aaron said sitting up for the first time since returning to the room.

"Hey, you just ate." Charlie said smiling at Aaron.

"But I liked it."

"Ok, ok if everyone is going to gang up on me. One breakfast in bed coming up."

"Yeah! Thank you daddy." Aaron said smiling. As Charlie walked out of the room Aaron wrapped his arms tighter around his mom and they lay down together to wait for their breakfast.

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Jack was staring out at the ocean when he saw Charlie walk by pushing a cart of food. "New job, Charlie?" Charlie jumped when he heard Jack's voice.

"Oh hey, Jack. Just bringing Claire a little breakfast in bed."

"A little? Charlie there's enough food there for five people. I know Claire's eating for two but come on." Charlie blushed.

"I just want to make sure that Claire can have what she wants. She deserves that." Charlie said almost whispering the last part. Less than a month earlier Jack had told Charlie that Claire was pregnant. After what Claire had been through with her last pregnancy Charlie was determined to make things easier for her.

"How's Claire been feeling?" Jack asked, fully aware of how much Charlie worried about Claire.

"Good. Good, she's uh, she's still in shock a bit but mostly she's just glad to be going home."

"Glad to hear it." Charlie smiled and started to leave when Jack stopped him. "Hey, Charlie, where do you think home will be exactly?"

"What?"

"I've just been trying to figure out where everyone's going once we get back to LA. So… Where is home going to be?"

"That is the big question. I'd take LA or England but I think Claire has her heart set on going back to Sydney. We haven't really decided." Charlie said shrugging his shoulders.

"I should let you get back to what you were doing." Jack said suddenly wanting to get away from Charlie. "Tell Claire I said hi."

"Will do." Charlie smiled as he walked off with the food. Jack watched him walk away and then turned back to the ocean.

"You don't believe it either do you?" Jack turned around to see Kate standing behind him. "Charlie and Claire, the little family thing that they're doing, you don't believe it." Jack started to speak but Kate stopped him. "You don't have to feel bad. I don't think anyone really thinks they're going to stay together."

"They've been together for three years Kate. They're about to have a baby together." Jack said.

"It's different now. Everything was different on the Island. We could all be who we wanted there but that's gone now. We're going back to the real world and we'll all just go back to being exactly who we were before. And that's not always so nice."

"Kate…" Jack whispered.

**AN/ I'm new to this site. Take pitty and review.**


	2. chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or its characters. I covet them like everyone else.**

Claire laughed out loud when she saw all the food Charlie had brought back. "Charlie! What did you do?"

"Well you said you were hungry."

"I was just hoping for some fruit; maybe some toast."

"Oh, now she tells me. And what about all this cereal I brought." He said pointing at a sleeping Aaron.

"All the excitement is wearing him out." She said smoothing out her sons hair.

"All my hard work for nothing." Charlie said smiling.

"Not nothing." Claire said reaching out for him. Charlie slid in bed next to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Have I told you lately that you are the sweetest most adorable man ever?"

"Once more couldn't hurt."

"I love you."

"I love you too, Claire." They lay like that for a while just holding each other. "I saw Jack on my way back. He asked about you."

"That's nice." Claire murmured beginning to fall asleep.

"Wanted to know how you were feeling."

"Mmhu."

"He uh… He also asked me about where we'd be going once the boat got to LA."

"Oh." Claire said seeming to wake up at once. "What umm what did you tell him?"

"Said I didn't really know. We haven't exactly talked about it. I mean, we talked a few times on the Island but now it's"

"Real." Claire said finishing his sentence.

"We're landing in LA in two days. We could just get off the boat find a place and get right to our new life."

"I did always want to go to America."

"Or there's England. We could get a place right in London if we wanted. I'd love to take Aaron to the places I went when I was a kid."

"England does sound beautiful."

"And of course there's Sydney. Take you back home. Raise our family on the sunny shores of Australia."

"All really good options." Claire said quietly.

"Claire, come on, where do you want to live?"

"Charlie it doesn't matter. Just as long as we all stay together."

"I'm not going anywhere, Claire. Nothing could tear me away from you and our kids. Even if you tell me you want to live in the middle of nowhere." Charlie said smiling.

"Honestly, I'd love to go back to Sydney."

"I had a feeling."

"It's not just for me though. I want Aaron to know where he comes from. Plus he'd be close to my family this way. I really want them to know him. And if we lived in Sydney then you could be close to Liam and." Claire stopped when she saw a look come across Charlie's face. "Charlie?"

"No, uh, Sydney sounds great."

"Charlie what is it?" Claire asked. After all their time on the Island, Charlie wasn't able to hide much from her.

"It's just that…I'm not sure if I'm ready to see Liam." Charlie said quietly.

"Charlie, when we were on the Island you always said that the thing you missed most was Liam."

"It was. It is. But the last time I saw him I was a mess. The last things I said to him were about what a horrible brother he was. That is the image I left him with three years ago. What if he doesn't even want to see me?"

"Charlie, he's your brother. You really think that one fight is going to stop him from rejoicing when he finds out that you're alive?"

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right." Charlie said, not fooling Claire for a second. Still she decided to change the subject.

"So, did you bring me anything with peanut butter?"

"I thought all you wanted was fruit?" Charlie teased as he handed her a bowl of fruit salad.

"What can I say; I'm eating for two." Charlie couldn't help smiling at that.

"I guess I'll just have to go and get you two some peanut butter then."

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Liam Pace was drinking coffee in his kitchen when the phone rang. "Ello." He said immediately hating whoever was calling him so early.

"Good morning sir, is this Liam Pace?" A man asked.

"Yeah."

"Mr. Pace I have some big news for you. You may want to sit down for this."

"Look whatever it is you're selling, I'm not interested." Liam said about to hang up.

"I'm not selling anything Mr. Pace. I'm calling to inform you about your brother."

"Charlie?" Liam said giving the man his full attention.

"Yes sir. It seems that four days ago a plane was flying over the Pacific Ocean. The plane was slightly off course due to engine problems and they flew over a small island. The pilot noticed something unusual and reported it. The following investigation discovered the remains of Oceanic Flight 815." Liam dropped the phone and fell into a kitchen chair. He could hear a voice continue talking on the phone but he couldn't pick it up. Charlie, his baby brother, his band mate, his best friend for most of his life. Charlie who had gotten on a plane three years ago and disappeared. Finally he could find out what had happened to his brother. Finally, Liam thought, he could put Charlie to rest.

Liam's wife Karen came into the kitchen and saw Liam and the phone. "Liam, honey, what happened?"

"They found the plane. They found Charlie's plane." Liam said, still in shock by the news. Karen looked at the phone and realized that someone was still talking on the other end.

"Hello? Yes this is Mrs. Pace. Yes I'm sorry about that. The news took him a bit by shock I'm afraid. Yes." Liam listened as his wife talked on the phone, relieved that she had taken over. "Excuse me? Oh well when do you think we can receive the body?" Liam looked up at that. "I'm sure you can understand that we'd like to prepare a funeral as soon as possible…Excuse me?" Karen's eyes got wide and she turned to look at Liam. "Sir do you think you can tell my husband what you just told me? I'll put him on right now." Liam started to stand up but Karen pushed him back down into the chair before handing him the phone.

"Mr. Pace, are you there?" The voice said.

"Yes, I'm here."

"Mr. Pace I'm very sorry if I was unclear earlier. Your brother and about 22 other passengers survived the crash."

"But that's impossible."

"I assure you, Mr. Pace, it's not."

"But it's been years. I mean… is he ok?" Liam asked, not knowing how to process what he'd just heard.

"I'm sorry but I don't have that information. I called because the survivors are being brought to Los Angeles and your brother wanted you to be notified."

"He did?"

"Yes. Each of the survivors provided the names of the people to be informed of their arrival." The man went on for a little longer about where and when he could meet his brother and Liam furiously wrote it down. Once Liam had gotten all the information he thanked the man and hung up. He stood staring at the notepad. Karen came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Liam, are you okay?" She asked quietly.

"Charlie's alive." Liam said, tears slowly forming in his eyes.

"I know." Karen said, feeling like she was about to cry herself.

"Charlie's alive. He's alive!" He looked at the notepad again and seemed to wake up. "They're taking him to LA. He'll be there in two days. I, I have to go. I have to be there when he gets in. God Karen, he's really alive." Liam said again, smiling through his tears.

**AN/ Thanks to the three wonderful people who reviewed. I will try and update frequently for you. ****:) Keep reviewing.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own lost or the Characters created by jj abrams or ABC. Does anyone really read this.**

Claire couldn't sleep. It had been all the food. After over three years of nothing but fish and fruit she had been thrilled at the variety of things to eat on the ship. That combined with pregnancy cravings had resulted in Claire having a fest at dinner. It had been fun at the time but now she was regretting it. After an hour of rolling in bed she decided to go take a walk on deck. She slid out of bed, being careful not to wake Charlie, and left. As soon as she was outside she went straight to the upper deck. Just being in the fresh air made her feel better. She picked out a deck chair and stretched out to look at the stars. She smiled to herself and began picking out constellations. "Hey, Claire." A voice said. Claire turned around and saw Kate standing by the railing. "You couldn't sleep either"

"Yeah, it's my stomach; I went a little overboard at dinner." Claire blushed at the memory of her dinnertime binge.

"I saw. I figured you were doing it for the baby though."

"He definitely didn't help. But mostly it was just me making a pig of myself. Trust me I won't be doing that again."

"So you think it's a 'he'? The baby, I mean." Kate asked.

"Don't know. Go back and forth really."

"Well which one are you hoping for?"

"Aaron has been begging me for a brother and Charlie wants a little girl. I kind of want both." Claire said, smiling as she laid a hand on her stomach.

"Maybe you'll get lucky; have twins."

"God no." Claire laughed. "I don't think I could handle more than one at a time. Besides can you imagine what Charlie would be like if he found out he was having twins?"

"Before or after his head explodes?"

"Exactly." Claire said rolling her eyes.

"I heard Charlie and Jack talking earlier. Jack was asking about where you'd be going when we got to LA. Where do you think you'll go?"

"I was talking to Charlie about that earlier. We're planning on going to Sydney. It makes the most sense; we both have family there."

"So you guys are really going to try this?" Kate asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You and Charlie; you're going to try and do the whole family thing?"

"We're married and I'm pregnant." Claire said incredulously.

"You had Eko marry you on the Island, but we're off the Island now. A lot of things are going to change."

"Not Charlie. We'll get married again if we have to and raise our family together." Claire got up to leave when something occurred to her. "Aren't you and Jack going to stay together?"

"Who knows? Probably not. The doctor and the convict don't make much sense in the real world." Kate said staring at the ground.

"Kate, Jack cares about you. Those kinds of feelings don't just disappear."

"I really hope that's true. For you and Charlie. You make a really nice couple." All of this was just making Claire's stomach feel worse so she said goodbye to Kate and headed back to her room. As she was walking by the pool she was startled by a yell.

"Claire!" Claire ran over to the side of the pool and looked into the water just as Shannon climbed out.

"Shannon, you shouldn't yell like that, I thought you were drowning or something." Claire said still shaken up by her conversation with Kate.

"Sorry; I just didn't want to miss you. I've hardly seen you since we got on the boat." Shannon pouted. While on the Island Claire had been her closest friend and it bothered her that Claire hadn't been trying to spend more time with her.

"I guess we've all just been really busy."

"Whatever, go get your suit on and get in here with me." Shannon said sliding back into the water.

"I don't really feel up to a swim right now, Shan." Claire said.

"Well at least sit and talk to me for a little bit."

"Yeah, okay, I guess I can sit for a little bit." Claire said as she slipped off her shoes and dipped her feet in the water.

"God I can't wait until we land. The first thing that I'm going to do is go to New York. Have you ever been shopping there?" Before Claire had a chance to answer Shannon continued. "No, you said that you'd never been to America before. Well it has the best shopping anywhere in the world short of Paris. I swear the second I get off this boat I am going on the mother of all shopping sprees. You should come with me!" Shannon said excitedly. Once again she didn't give Claire a chance to say anything. God I've missed new clothes. How about you, what's the first thing you're going to buy when we get back?" It took a second before Claire realized that Shannon wanted her to speak.

"I don't know. There's a lot of stuff I want to get for Aaron and the new ba." Shannon stopped her before she could finish.

"No! What are you going to get for you?"

"I don't know, Shannon. I haven't really thought much about shopping." Claire said exhausted. Normally she found Shannon's goofy, energy and enthusiasm fun, but she didn't have the energy for it now.

"_Sorry. _What's got you all cranky?"

"Nothing. I guess I'm just not feeling good."Claire said looking down at the water.

"Probably all that food you ate at dinner." Shannon said. Claire wanted to scream. Had anyone done anything at dinner but watch her eat?

"Yeah, that's probably it." Claire said starting to stand up.

"Hold on." Shannon said swimming over to the edge. "We've been friends for years now Claire. I can tell when you're freaking out. Now come on and make with the gossip." Shannon said smiling and waiting to hear her friend's secrets.

"Really, it's nothing. Just; something Kate said got me upset. It was stupid."

"What did she say?" Shannon asked, giving Claire her full attention.

"She said that…Basically she said that Charlie and I wouldn't last once we got off the Island." Claire said, hating to even say the words out loud.

"Oh I get it. She got you all worried that Charlie's going to leave like your last boyfriend did."

"I know, its crazy right." Claire said looking to her friend for assurance.

"Not really." Claire starred at Shannon confused. "I mean Charlie was kind of famous before the crash. Once people find out that he is 'back from the dead' he's going to be more famous than ever. We all will." Shannon said, smiling at the thought of giving magazine interviews. "It really isn't that crazy to think that he might want to go back to that life." Noting the look on Claire's face Shannon quickly added. "Not that there's anything wrong with the family life."

"There _isn't_ anything wrong with the family life." Claire said angrily. "I don't understand any of you. Why is it suddenly so hard to believe that me and Charlie could be happy together? I didn't hear any of you object when we got married."

"Yeah but that was on the Island. No one really had any other options. Now we do. It's nothing against you and Charlie."

"That's great. You know it's getting really late; I think I'm going to bed." Claire grabbed her shoes and all but ran back to her cabin. She didn't even hear when Shannon called after her.

When she got back to the room she ran in and slammed the door behind her, letting loose the tears that had been building up since she had talked to Kate. The sound of the door woke Charlie who immediately reached out for Claire. Not finding her next to him he sat up and so saw her standing with her back to the door. By now she was sobbing. Charlie jumped up and ran to her and she immediately collapsed into his arms.

"Claire? Claire what's wrong? Is it the baby? Do you need me to get Jack? Please Claire, tell me what's wrong." Charlie said. Through her tears Claire began to smile and embraced Charlie.

"They're wrong." They're just… It's not important." Claire said standing up.

"What happened to you out there?" Charlie asked.

"I was talking to Kate and Shannon. They both kept saying that what we had on the Island, our whole relationship wouldn't last. I guess… I guess I just got scared."

"Well of course, listening to Shannon's been known to scare me too." Claire's smile grew and she let out a small laugh.

"I know you love me, Charlie."

"You're bloody right, I do."

"It's just that with everything I've been through; with Thomas, and the psychic and the Others, it's just a little hard for me to have faith and trust in anything."

"Yeah, I know, but I though… After all this time that we had gotten past that."

"We did. We are but, Kate is right about one thing, our lives are going to change when we get to LA." As Claire finished speaking Charlie sat her down on the bed so they were facing each other.

"Claire, I will never abandon you. You and Aaron are the most important things in my life. In a few months we'll add the new baby to that. That won't change no matter where we are." Claire smiled and put her hand on her stomach. "I'm scared too Claire. I wasn't exactly a reliable guy before I met you. Let's be honest, I was bloody scum, there are times when I worry I might slip back into old habits. But whenever that happens I just look at you and Aaron and I know that what we have, that our family, is worth whatever I have to do to keep it. We'll make this work Claire." Claire didn't say anything to that. She just kissed him and hoped he would understand how much he meant to her.

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Shannon had been floating on her back when she heard someone coming toward the pool. She opened her eyes and saw Kate coming. "Hey, I thought you might be Claire coming back." Shannon said.

"You saw her too?"

"Yeah. I think I got her upset. For the record though, I think you're right."

"About what?"

"About her and Charlie not staying together. I mean it was sweet of him to take care of her on the Island and everything, but let's be serious. As soon as the press gets a hold of the rock star returned from the dead, he's gonna have groupies coming out of the woodwork. No guy's going to say no to that. Besides it's not like they're really married."

"I don't want to be right about that."

"Whatever. Not like it really matters."

"I take it that you and Sayid aren't staying together then?" Kate asked annoyed with Shannon's attitude.

"No… We're not. I like Sayid a lot but… come on can you really see us together off the Island. I can just imagine the reaction I get if I brought someone like him home to meet my step-mother, let alone my friends. It's better this way. Us breaking up now... It'll save us both a lot of pain later on." Shannon said sadly.

"Makes sense." Kate said

"Yeah, it does." Shannon replied.

**AN/ I love the reviews. From now on all reviewers get peanut butter. **(Note: this peanut butter may be imaginary or just the word peanut butter.)


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own lost. OR it's characters. **

Liam found his seat on the plane and struggled to buckle himself in. His hands kept shaking and he couldn't help being reminded of his junkie days. He didn't know how he was going to make it through the flight to LA without going crazy. He wished, not for the first time, that Karen was with him. The plan had originally been for Karen and him to go together to meet Charlie when he got off the boat. Then at the last minute Karen had decided that it would be getter if Liam went by himself. She said the after being apart for so long they would want time to talk alone. At the time Liam had agreed. It had seemed like a good idea but now he wasn't so sure.

The night before Liam had been thrilled with the idea of seeing his brother again but now, sitting on the plane, Liam was beginning to have his doubts. He and Charlie hadn't exactly separated on good terms. Charlie had all but told Liam that it was his fault that his life was such a mess. Liam kept replaying his last meeting with Charlie over in his head. Charlie had been addicted to heroin then but, after three years on an Island, he had to be clean. But what if Charlie got back to LA and went straight back to his old dealers? What if he went right back to his old habits? He could be getting his brother back only to lose him to an overdose.

No; that wouldn't happen. Charlie had wanted him to come. Had requested that Liam be there to meet him. That had to mean that he wanted help, that he wanted Liam to help him change his life. Liam watched out the window as the plane took off and thought about what Charlie must have been through on the island. Spending his days gathering food and water and just sitting and waiting. Nothing for him to do but wait for rescue and think. Three years to think about his life. Liam had let Charlie down before, he realized that now, but he would be there for him now. He would go to LA and get his brother and get him to change his life.

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Charlie woke up to the sound of yelling outside his room. Someone started pounding at his door and Claire woke up. "What's going on?" She muttered rubbing her eyes.

"Dude's get up!" A voice yelled from outside. Charlie jumped up and ran to the door.

"Hurley, what the hell are you doing!" Charlie yelled.

"You guys need to get out here, we can see California!" Hurly said as he ran off to tell anyone else still in their rooms. Charlie and Claire were up in a second, pulling on clothes and shoes. Charlie grabbed, a still sleeping, Aaron and they were out the door. Almost all of the survivors were already on the deck starring out at the fast approaching shoreline. Shannon and Libby were crying. Jin was holding up his two year old daughter, Ji Yeon, so that she could see and Sun was just looking at them happily. Sawyer was so overcome with emotion that he hugged the person next to him. Sadly though this person was Jack and Sawyer had to punch him in the stomach to cover it up. Locke was just standing behind everyone looking miserable, but everyone else was celebrating. The deck was filled with cheers and sounds of excitement. Hurley came up behind Charlie and hugged him. "Dude! Were home! We're finally home!"

It would be another two hours before the boat landed in LA. In the meantime the survivors gathered together everything that they had brought with them from the Island. When the boat finally did dock the first one off was Boone, running past everyone in his hurry to touch California soil again. When everyone was unloaded there was a small celebration amongst the group. It probably would have gone on for hours if a woman with a clipboard hadn't stepped in.

"Hello." She said. "My name is Lillian Gray, and I'm in charge of bringing you all back to life."

AN: I love all the reviews. Keep them coming. ANd Debbie Lostgirl here is your peanut butter. (Presents with a jar of peanut butter with big red bow on the top.)


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Not lost, not the actors, not the island, not JJ Abrams, not Vincent the dog or any of his affiliates.**

**AN: Thanks to all who review. You bring light and Peanut butter joy into my life. Now if only more of you would follow their example. Also sorry for the short chapter last time. Hope this makes up for it.**

"I understand that you all want to get going but it is important that you all receive a complete medical workup before we can allow you to leave. Now if you'll all just wait for your names to be called we can begin." Ms. Gray said going over her clipboard one more time.

"I feel like I'm back in school, waiting to be called on like this." Walt muttered.

"So do I." Boone whispered back. Although if more of his teachers had looked like Lillian then he might have paid more attention in class.

"Oh man, I hate doctors. I just know that there gonna inject me with something." Hurley said, completely oblivious to the fact that Jack was standing right behind him.

Ms. Gray began calling names off and nurses led people off to examining rooms. Aside from Hurley almost fainting when he saw that his nurse had a blood (ketchup) stain on her shirt the day was going fine. Then a major mistake was made. "Alright I understand that two of you gave birth while on the island. I'll need you to step forward." Ms. Gray said. Sun and Claire moved forward. She checked their names off her clipboard and called the nurses over.

"Claire Littleton?" A young woman with a brown ponytail asked.

"That's me." Claire said moving over. The young woman smiled.

"Alright Ms. Littleton, you'll be seeing Dr. Miner. Follow me, and you can leave your little boy with Jane and she'll see that he gets taken to the right room." She said after noticing that Claire was still carrying Aaron.

"Excuse me?"

"If you'll just follow me." The girl said again.

"You want to separate us?" Claire asked pulling her son closer.

"Just for your exams. Don't worry; we'll take good care of him."

"No that won't work. I'm just not comfortable with that. Aaron's never been to a doctor; I need to be with him." Claire said firmly.

"Ms. Littleton you will be receiving a very thorough examination. Believe me you don't want your son to watch that. Aaron will be just fine." And with that the girl moved to take Aaron.

"Get your hands OFF my son!" Claire screamed pulling back and causing everyone in the room to turn and look. Jack immediately came running over.

"What's going on here?" Jack asked assessing the nurse.

"They want to take Aaron." Claire said sharply.

"Just while they are with the doctors. I don't know why she's causing such a scene." The nurse said beginning to sound annoyed. Jack put his arm around Claire.

"Listen." He said. "Claire should be with Aaron when he sees his doctor. Now I looked at the schedules and Hugo Reyes and I go right after each other. We can take turns watching him while Claire is gone and when she gets back _she_ can take him to his appointment."

"That should be fine. Will that be acceptable to you Ms. Littleton?" She didn't even try to hide her sneer as she asked.

"That's fine." Claire said. She handed Aaron over to Jack and smiled her gratitude.

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Dinah Miner had been a doctor for 12 years and had seen hundreds of lives come and go. Yet nothing had ever amazed her until she saw 25 people return from three years on an island. She and ten other doctors had been brought in to examine the survivors. Dinah sat down at her computer, having just finished her examination of a young girl named Claire Littleton. Claire Littleton was unique among the survivors. The primary reason being that she had given birth while on the island, but also because she had reportedly been kidnapped and held for two weeks; an event that caused severe memory loss.

The exam had gone well, surprisingly so, with only slight signs of dehydration and malnutrition. The only thing that had Dinah worried was a discovery made during a blood test. She decided to run the tests one more time and confirm the results before breaking the news to Claire. Just as she was receiving her results, Rebecca Norris walked in.

"So what's the story on the Jungle Mom?"Rebecca asked.

"Fine, Beck." Dinah muttered. She couldn't stand Rebecca and hoped she wouldn't be sticking around for long.

"Hey, is it true she threw a fit on the way in?" Rebecca asked pulling up a chair and confirming that she intended to stay.

"She was just upset. The nurse wasn't thinking about what she was doing. Ms. Littleton is just fine now."

"I'm not surprised that some of them are nuts. Stranded on an island. I'm amazed that more of them aren't freaking out. Especially the girls."

"What are you going on about?" Dinah asked annoyed.

"Think about it. You have about thirty people, mostly men, on an island for three years. Trying to be found and wondering why no one's come to get them. All that rage and frustration building up until the only way to let lose is to grab the closest person. Whether they want you or not." Rebecca smiled as she finished.

"You're disgusting."

"No, I'm realistic. Ten to one says that in the next couple of weeks you'll hear some pretty dark and disgusting stories from them popping up in the news." Dinah tried to tune Rebecca out. Rebecca always seemed to see the most perverse side of everything and she couldn't deal with that right now. She looked down and saw that the results were in on Claire's blood work. She quickly scanned them and saw that the results were the same as before. Claire Littleton was pregnant.

"What are you being so secretive about over there?" Rebecca said as she tried to look at the screen.

"Get away from this." Dinah said shoving Rebecca away.

"What's wrong? You find out she has some tropical STD or something?"

"No! Look I'm busy, so why don't you go back to work or whatever it is you do here."

"Fine. I'll just go see how our survivors are doing. Maybe help some of the guys celebrate their return to civilization."

"Just go." Dinah said. She watched until Rebecca left and then went back to the computer. She stared at the results again and cringed. As much as Rebecca disgusted her, she had to admit, she had had the same idea. She knew that she had to tell Claire that she was pregnant. Given her earlier behavior she wasn't looking forward to that. As Dinah mad her way back to the exam room she wondered if Claire would even be able to say which of the men was her child's father.

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By the time all the survivors had been examined it was four in the afternoon. Aside from some minor problems everyone was given a clean bill of health. Vans were brought in to bring them to a hotel for the night. As they were all being loaded into the cars they were each handed a schedule for the next day.

**11:00 – 2:00** Brunch and reunion with contacted relatives

**2:00 – 3:45** Press conference

_Keep in mind that you are to exclude certain parts of your experience _

**4:30 – 6:00** Meeting with the head of Oceanic Airlines.

**6:15** you will be returned to the hotel and free to go

The responses to the schedule varied between person to person. Some thrilled to be interviewed and others just wanting to get back to their lives. No one was looking forward to the meeting with Oceanic. However everyone was glad to be getting some rest so they boarded into the vans and headed for the Merchant Hotel.

The arrangement of the vans alone showed the change that many of the survivors had gone through. Van 1 consisted of Sawyer, Shannon, Libby, Kate, Hurley and Misty. Van 2 had Jack, Boone, Michael, Walt, Rose and Bernard. Van 3 was Sayid, Anna Lucia, Eko, Jin, Sun and Ji Yeon. Finally Van 4 was Nicky, Paulo, Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Desmond and Locke. Boone had been the last on to get in the van. "No one sign anything." He said. "The only reason Oceanic is meeting with us is to get us to sign away our right to sue. Between the crash and all the time it took for them to get us, we are all looking at a huge settlement." Boone continued on about their rights to anyone who would listen; which was really only Michal and Walt. Jack, who usually felt the need to control everything, was happy to sit in his seat and enjoy his ride.

Rose and Bernard sat in the back of the van talking quietly to each other. "Don't see why they have to make such a fuss over everything. We're home now, that should be enough." Rose said.

"We're big news. People are going to want to talk to us." Bernard said holding Rose's hand.

"Those who want publicity can have it. Me; I'm ready to go home." She said smiling and staring out the window.

While Boone sat in van number two and talked about how much everyone could earn, Shannon, who was in the first van, talked about how much she was going to spend. "New Clothes! God I can't wait to have something real to wear again. I'm going out tomorrow as soon as the press thing is over. I mean obviously I'm going out tomorrow morning, but that's just for something to wear on camera." She quickly turned to Libby. "You should come with me. Claire and Nicky too, we could make it a girl's thing. We could probably even get Oceanic to foot the bill." Libby smiled and nodded while Hurley sat in the back laughing to himself as he listened.

Sayid was even more quiet than usual, just sitting and staring straight forward. Jin and Sun took advantage of their daughter's nap, and their Korean, to talk about what was going on. "She told him last night that she wanted to end things." Sun said softly sneaking a quick glance at Sayid. "She wouldn't even talk about it. Just told him that she didn't want to be with him anymore."

"Why would she do that?" Jin asked.

"I don't know. These last few months Sayid and her have been almost inseparable. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Shannon has never made sense to me." Jin said smiling.

"It's not funny; I think she broke his heart."

Charlie was furious when he found out that one of the nurses had tried to separate Claire and Aaron. "I would have killed her. What the hell was she thinking? I can't believe I wasn't there. I knew I shouldn't have left until I saw what was going to happen to you and Aaron." Charlie ranted.

"Calm down. Everything worked out fine. Anyway she's gone now and we have more important things to think about." Charlie draped his arm around Aaron and waited for Claire to continue. "It's official. I am four months pregnant." Claire said smiling.

"I thought it was only three. Jack said… I can't believe that the baby's going to be here so soon." Charlie said reaching out his other hand to place on Claire's stomach.

"I know, there's so much to do."

"So did the doctor say if it was a boy or a girl?" Charlie asked trying hard not to stress the word girl.

"No. She said that it was still a little too soon for that. Actually she was kind of…"

"She was kind of what?"

"Weird. She didn't seem to want to tell me about the baby at all. I guess she thought I didn't know I was pregnant yet. But even then she seemed to think I was going to be upset. And she couldn't seem to believe that I wanted to know more about it." Claire said thinking back to the exam. "The weirdest part had to be when she asked me if I knew who the father might be."

"Not an unreasonable question."

"I guess. It was just the way she said it; like it was a big secret."

"Well, forget her. Once we get you to Australia we'll find a doctor who isn't crazy and do this the right way." Charlie said. He and Claire continued to talk about their family for the rest of the ride to the hotel. Meanwhile in the back of the van Desmond and Locke sat quietly. Listening to everything around them and saying nothing.

**AN: Be warned there is some major angst coming in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Lost, its Characters or anything else that looks familiar.**

**AN: I don't know the difference in time between LA and Australia. So since I'm too lazy to google it, let's just say that their six hours ahead. Also there isn't the major angst I promised in the last chapter. Due to this chapter turning out longer than I thought, angst will come later. Doesn't that just make you happy.**

It was ten o'clock at night when Liam Pace checked in to his Hotel. He immediately checked in to his room, threw his suitcase on the bed, and immediately called his wife. The phone rang six times and Liam was about to give up when he heard a groggy "ello?"

"Hey Karen. I'm in LA." Liam said.

"I'm glad. Is everything ok, did your flight work out?" She replied.

"Yeah. Karen, were you asleep already?"

"Liam, its four o'clock in the morning here." Karen said laughing little. Liam never could seem to remember time changes.

"I'm sorry; I guess I forgot about the time difference."

"It's fine. I'm glad you called. I've been worried. So how are you really doing?"

"Honestly? Kare, I'm a complete mess. I don't know how I'm going to face Charlie tomorrow. I wish you had come with me."

"You'll be fine. Just keep telling yourself that he asked for you to come." Liam sighed over the phone and Karen took that as a sign to continue. "What time are you going over tomorrow?"

"The brunch starts at eleven. I want to be there early so I'll leave a little before ten I guess. Karen… I'm scared."

"I know. But it will work out. I'll call you tomorrow, ok hon?"

"Yeah. Love you."

"Love you too." Once Karen had hung up Liam didn't know what to do with himself. He knew that he should go straight to sleep so that he wouldn't look like a jet lagged zombie the next day, but he was so wired. He paced around the room for almost an hour before he decided to give up and give sleep a try. Before he lay down on the bed he grabbed his cell phone and programmed an alarm for the next day, he had years ago lost all faith in hotel clocks. He programmed in the date and time to wake up and turned off the light. Just as he was falling asleep he remembered his call with Karen and grabbed the phone. He pushed the time back six hours so that he would be in the right time zone. He smiled to himself thinking about all the gigs he and Charlie had nearly missed because he could never seem to figure out what time it was in another country. He went to sleep with that on his mind. Sadly though Karen had also had that on her mind when Liam left; and had made a point of changing the clock on his phone for him, knowing that he would forget. Right then Liam was timed to wake up six hours after he wanted to.

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Jack was the first one up the next morning and was in the lobby waiting when everyone else began to come down. Unlike when the boat landed their emotions were varied, from massive excitement to depression to panic. The only thing anyone could seem to agree on was that they wanted to get to the brunch and fast. The only people who didn't seem to be anxious for the meetings was Aaron and Ji Yeon, and even they wanted to get going; if only out of hunger.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting the vans finally arrived to take everyone to the hall. Hardly anyone talked during the drive over and even Hurley felt the need to keep quiet. Once arrived everyone was herded into a banquet hall that had been prepared in their honor. Someone, in a fit of poor taste, had even decorated the room in a tropical theme and paper palm trees and coconuts were everywhere. Everyone sat down in silence. Plates of food were made up for the kids, but no one else could eat. No one really knew what to do. Then the silence was shattered with cries of "Where is my boy? You take me to him." The doors to the hall burst open and a small Hispanic woman stood scanning the room.

"Mom?" Hurley said standing up. The woman's eyes became huge and she bolted across the room.

"Hugo! Oh my baby! I'll never let you go again!" She hugged him and he hugged her back and everyone smiled at the loving reunion. Then Hurley's mom slapped him. "Didn't I tell you not to go on that fool trip? I told you it was crazy and look what happened. I almost lost you. Do you have any idea what you put me through? Thinking you were dead!" She yelled smacking his arm.

"Mom would you stop hittin me." Hurley said turning red.

"Oh, now that you are back you think you can tell me what to do huh?" She said before stopping to hug him again. Hurley smiled and picked his mother up in a hug. Hurley knew what his mom was like and he loved her for it.

"I missed you mom." He said before putting her down and leading her to a table to talk. The entrance of Mrs. Reyes had broken the ice and made it possible for the other survivors to greet their own families, who had slowly begun entering during the 'fight'.

Jack greeted his mother and told her about his father's death in Australia. Rose and Bernard were practically swarmed by their five children all eager to prove to themselves that they weren't dead. Anna Lucia was quietly approached by her mother and a man in a police uniform and though there were no tears you could tell they were all thrilled to see each other. Libby's sister and Michal's mother, Sayid's brother and Boone and Shannon's mother, even Sun's parents were there to welcome their loved ones back. Nicki's brother showed up and greeted Paolo like family; even though the two had never met. Kate's 'true' father showed up and assured Kate he was going to do everything possible to help her legal case.

Eko and Sawyer, the only two in the group who hadn't contacted anyone, sat at a table in the corner and talked. Other than the periodic interruption to introduce a family member they were happy to sit back and watch. Soon all that was left was Desmond, Charlie, and Claire.

"I didn't really think she would come." Desmond said looking at Charlie. "Six years, it's just too long, and we fought just before I left."

"Yeah but she wrote you that letter." Claire said. "She wouldn't have given up easily."

"No one holds out hope for six years." He muttered. The discussion was interrupted by a woman with a British accent.

"Des." Was all she said. The words seemed to send a shock through Desmond and he bolted up.

"Penny!" He yelled before throwing himself at the woman. "Penny I can't believe you came. I've dreamt about you every night I've been gone." Penny kissed him before speaking.

"God Des, I missed you so much. I couldn't believe it when they called and said that they'd found you."

"It was a miracle all right."

"I still don't understand how you got there."

"I'll tell you everything." Desmond said leading Penny off to tell her everything that had happened to him since he had left to sail around the world. This left only Charlie, Claire, and Aaron sitting at the table.

"Guess that just leaves us." Claire said sadly.

"I can't believe Liam didn't come. I know things weren't great between us, but I can't believe that he didn't even come." Charlie said shaking his head.

"It's only twelve thirty. He might just be late. He could still show up." Claire said eyeing the door. For the first time a thought occurred to Charlie.

"Love, I know I should have asked this earlier but, didn't you invite anyone?"

"My mum. But she practically disowned me even before I left so I didn't really think she would come."

"I'm sorry, Claire." She smiled at that but quickly changed the subject.

"Don't give up on Liam, Charlie. I've listened to you talk about him for years; I can't believe that he won't come."

"Sure." Charlie said getting up. "Hey Aaron, what do you say to getting another piece of that cake?"

"Yeah!" Aaron said jumping up and racing Charlie over to the buffet table. Claire watched as they loaded their trays up with every baked good that would fit. She quickly stole another glance at the door hoping to see her mother come through. Claire and her mother hadn't had the best relationship even before she got pregnant. Still, now that she was a mother herself, she wanted to make up with her mom and bring her into Aaron's life. After everything that happened she thought that her mother would have been willing to put their problems aside and come see her. Even still Claire was determined that her family be a part of Aaron's childhood, he deserved it, and she would do what it took to make that happen.

While everyone else was enjoying, or hating, the reunion John Locke was nowhere to be found. When everyone had been distracted by Hurley's mother he had slipped out a side door. He hadn't contacted anyone and just wanted to get the day over with. He decided to go outside and get some air while he waited for the vans that would take them to the press conference. Because of this he had a perfect view of Liam Pace's arrival.

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It was eleven forty-five when Liam woke up. The maid had come in to clean the room, thinking that Liam had already left, and was startled to find him still in bed. Liam jumped up when he saw her in the room and she quickly began to apologize. "I'm so sorry; I thought you were out already. Would you like me to come back later?"

"Why the hell are you here so early?" He asked rubbing his eyes.

"We always begin cleaning the rooms around noon." She said gathering her things to leave.

"What are you talking abou" Liam began to say as he glanced at the table clock. "Damn! I'm supposed to be there!" Liam yelled jumping up. He quickly ran to his suitcase and began rummaging for the outfit he had brought for the brunch. "How did this happen?" He grumbled. The maid took this opportunity to leave the room; seeing as the occupant was having some kind of episode. Liam continued looking for his outfit and began tossing clothes out of his suitcase in his search. "Come on where is it?" He muttered. He looked up at the clock and saw that it was almost noon and he decided to give up on the outfit. He tossed on the clothes that he had been wearing on the plane, grabbed his phone and wallet, and ran out the door.

Once outside Liam tried his best to get a taxi and get to the hall, but everything seemed against him. It took almost fifteen minutes just to find a cab and once he did it was being driven by what seemed to be the oldest, and slowest, man in the world. Every light seemed to sense their approach and turn red and even traffic seemed to slow down around them. When he finally got to the hall it was past one thirty. Liam paid the driver and sprinted to the door; only to be stopped by a guard. "Where do you think you're going?" He asked.

"Inside." Liam said, in no mood to deal with more interruptions.

"Sorry, bud, but this is a private party."

"Yeah, I know, I was invited. My brother's in there."

"Really?" The guard said scanning Liam up and down.

"Yes, I was invited, now move!" Liam said trying to shove past the guard. The guard immediately pushed him backwards, no longer trying to be friendly.

"Back off. If you had been invited you would have been here at eleven like everyone else. Now get out of here."

"Listen you, I was invited, now you let me in or you'll regret it." Liam tried to sound as imposing as possible.

"Really? Well if you don't leave then I'll bring in the cops. We'll see who ends up better off." With that the guard walked inside and closed the door. Liam didn't know what to do. Obviously getting into the building wasn't going to happen; so how was he supposed to see Charlie? He thought about waiting outside for them to leave, but then realized that if there was this much security around the door then they would probably be taken out through a side door. After a few minutes of standing on the sidewalk he decided that his best bet was to go back to the hotel to try and figure things out before the guard actually called the police. As he was walking away from the building he saw a bald man staring at him. Liam realized that he'd probably seen the whole thing.

"What the hell are you looking at, baldie?" He sneered. The man just looked at him for a moment, like he was thinking, and said "You should get yourself cleaned up before you go see your brother. Might help." Then the old man walked down the street.

"Wanker." Liam muttered to himself as flagged down a cab. When he got back to the hotel he went to the bathroom to take a shower and realized for the first time how bad he looked. As he stared in the mirror he took in his bed head and five o'clock shadow. The wrinkles and stains on his travel clothes stood out and his breath stank from not brushing his teeth. He lifted his arms and realized that he stank too. No wonder the guard didn't let him in. Not only was he late, but he looked like some crazy homeless man. "He probably thought I was some kind of a nut." He said to his reflection. He continued to scrutinize his appearance when he realized how to find out where Charlie was. HE ran to his phone and called the people who had told him about Charlie in the first place. They would have to help him find his brother.

**AN: I just love Hurley's mom, don't you? Also, I know that Claire's mom is in a coma on the show, but in the first seasons you think that they just have a strained relationship so I'm going with that. As always keep reviewing; and if there is someone who's return you are really curious about tell me and I may try and give them a little more attention in a future chapter. No promises though. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Lost or its characters.**

**AN: Sorry for the delay in posting. Some crazy teacher decided to assign a speech a week. Hate homework. Oh well keep reviewing.**

When Lillian Gray had described the press conference to the survivors she had mentioned a quick talk with a small group of reporters. As the survivors took their places on the stage they saw that small was apparently a relative statement. The large room was packed with reporters and photographers with many more still filling in. Lillian Gray walked to the front of the stage and began to speak. "If everyone is ready we'll begin." She then proceeded to give a quick summary on the events that led to their arrival on the island and how they were found. "Now we'll begin taking questions." The response from the audience was almost instantaneous. It seemed like everyone was trying to talk at once. Somehow Lillian was able to pick a voice out of the din and the questions began.

"What were the conditions like immediately after your arrival?" No one seemed to know if they should speak. In the end it was Boone who jumped forward.

"When we first crashed it was complete chaos. People were hurt and panicking and there were burning pieces of wreckage everywhere. No one knew what to do." Then Boone smiled. "Luckily we had a doctor with us or we probably never would have made it past the first day."

"What did you do for food and water all this time?" Another reporter asked.

"There were many different types of fruit trees and other edible plants on the Island. We also found wild boar on the Island and had several people who began hunting regularly." Jack said thinking back to all the extra food that had been found in the Hatch and the food drops. The questions went on and the survivors took turns answering the questions about their day to day lives on the Island and their attempts to find rescue. Then the questions became a little more difficult.

"When you crashed you had about 40 people with you, then found more when you contacted the survivors on the other end of the Island but now there are only about 25 of you. What happened to everyone else?" Once again it was left to Jack to answer the question.

"Even at the best of times the Island was a very dangerous place. Within our first week people died from injuries from the crash and drowning. The biggest loss though came about a year ago. People began getting sick with a virus I had never seen before. I didn't know how to treat it and we lost about half of our group." All of the survivors were quiet. No one had yet forgotten the day that one of the Others had shown up at the camp saying that there had been enough fighting and offering to call a truce. Three days later he was dead and a dozen people were sick. Sayid had called it germ warfare, but everyone else had just thought of it as murder. The silence was interrupted by another question.

"Ms. Austin, what was the fate of the U.S Marshal who was escorting you on the plane?" Before Kate could answer Ms. Gray stepped in.

"I would just like to remind everyone that any questions relating to Ms. Austin's legal issues are off the table. Kate was about to answer when Jack spoke.

"The Marshal died from injuries sustained during the crash." Kate smiled at him appreciatively.

"Ms. Littleton, you were eight months pregnant when you landed on the Island, what was it like for you to give birth in those situations?"

"Um… Scary." Claire whispered.

"You were in the process of putting your son up for adoption when you boarded the plane, do you still plan on giving him up?"

"No. I love my son and he is staying with me." Claire said with more confidence. The questions continued and Ms. Gray decided to allow one more question before ending.

"You all were on this island for over three years, was there any point when you just gave up all hope that anyone was coming to save you?"

"That is a tough question to answer." Jack said. "Yes there were times when it seemed like we would be on the Island for the rest of our lives, but I don't think any of us ever truly stopped dreaming of the day when we would go home. I would say that there was always hope." Jack was right and wrong about that; sure people dreamed that one day they would get off the Island, but after the first year all genuine belief in that seemed gone. They had all been forced to accept that the Island was their new home and adapt to their new lives. Some had succeeded at this better than others, but just about everyone had thought they would be there until the day they died.

Once the last question had been asked everyone filed off the stage to be taken to the meeting with the head of Oceanic Airlines. Boone once again reminded everyone not to sign anything until lawyers were present. That didn't turn out to be an issue though. Upon meeting with the company they were immediately offered settlement checks that even Boone thought were generous. In addition to the "massive loads of cash", as Charlie called it, each of the survivors was offered an Oceanic Gold pass allowing them to fly with Oceanic anywhere for free. While no one felt especially inclined to get on a plane right away the offers still staggered them. Everyone signed away their right to sue and left feeling speechless.

Before anyone could begin heading back to the hotel Hurley made an announcement. "Everyone, I know that tomorrow we're all, like, moving on with our lives, but I think we should give each other a proper sendoff. So I've rented a place for a private party tonight. So come get the address and then let's get out of here." Everyone took paper and wrote down the address, wondering when Hurley had had time to rent a place, and headed back to the hotel to recharge.

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Liam had thought that once he contacted the people who told him about Charlie that they would be able to tell him exactly where he could find his brother. Sadly though that wasn't turning out to be true. Just proving to the people on the phone that he even was Liam Pace was proving difficult. "I'm just trying to contact my brother; I don't see why you can't tell me where he is?" Liam said for what felt like the fifteenth time.

"Sir you have to understand we are trying to protect the privacy of the survivors." The man said.

"But he wanted to see me. I was on the list!" Liam yelled.

"So you've said but it isn't that simple." Apparently reporters had been calling all day pretending to be long lost friends or relatives of the survivors and the company was working hard to keep their location a secret for as long as they could. Finally after an hour of going in circles he hung up. Almost immediately his phone rang.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Liam, how did it go? I've been dying all day. How was he?" Karen asked excited.

"I never got to see him."

"He wasn't there?" Karen asked sounding confused.

"No I wasn't." He said quietly. "I overslept. God how stupid can you get! Then when I got there late they wouldn't let me in. I've been trying to call people all day, but no one will tell me where I can find Charlie. I don't know what to do."

"We'll figure this out. It's not too late. What was the number for the company again?" Karen asked. Liam quickly read the number off to her. "Alright I'm going to call them. Maybe I can convince someone to tell me something. You try and relax. You don't want to be a wreck when you see your brother." Liam looked in the mirror and wondered how Karen always seemed to know when he was falling apart. He assured her that he would try and pull himself together. They said goodbye and he hung up. Liam looked in the mirror again and stood up.

"First thing you need to do is take a shower." He said to his reflection.

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Hurley had told Charlie and Claire to meet him in the lobby of the hotel at seven so after they got changed and got Aaron dressed they went there to wait for him. It was about ten minutes later that a large yellow Hummer pulled up in front of the building with Hurley at the wheel. He waved at them to get into the car. "I think he wants us to follow him." Charlie said jokingly.

"Come on." Claire said pulling him and Aaron into the car.

"Sup dudes… and Claire. You ready to go?" Hurley asked as Claire hooked Aaron into the car seat Hurley had set up. She nodded and he began driving.

"Hurley, where did you get this car?" Charlie asked.

"I bought it right after I won the lottery. My mom had my brother bring it over this afternoon. It's pretty sweet right?" Hurley said.

"Hurley, this car is the definition of sweet. Isn't that right Aaron?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, can you make it go fast?" Aaron asked.

"Some other day, little dude. Right now we have a party to get to."Hurley said. Luckily the drive only took about 20 minutes and they were soon pulling up in front of the Lucky Eights Bar and Grille.

"How exactly did you get this place rented out on such short notice?" Charlie asked as they all got out of the car.

"I own it. My brother always wanted to work at a bar. I was gonna buy it for him, but he didn't want that kinda pressure, so now he just runs the place."

"Is there anything you don't own?" Charlie asked.

"If there is than I bet that check from Oceanic will help me get it." Hurley said as he held the door open for his friends. The party had already begun and most of the survivors were already there. "You guys come over here there's someone I want you to meet." Hurley said leading Charlie, Claire and Aaron over to the bar. "Guys this is my brother Diego. Diego I want you to meet Charlie, Claire, and their son Aaron." They all shook hands and Diego smiled.

"You the ones who took care of my little brother for all those years?" He asked.

"Hurley didn't really need anyone to take care of him." Claire said not sure if Diego was joking.

"Hurley always needs someone to take care of him. You know I had to carry this guy through four years of high school. I still have the limp if you don't believe me."

"Yes, ha ha, Hurley was always fat, we know." Hurley said pretending to be annoyed. In reality his brother was the only person in the world who could make fat jokes about him without hurting him. "Hey look you guys order whatever you want. I'll be back in a little bit." Hurley said running off to greet Libby who had just walked through the door.

"Look at him; he's acting like a puppy, following her around everywhere." Charlie said laughing to himself.

"I think it's cute." Claire said.

"He still shouldn't follow her around so much. She's going to think he's desperate."

"You all want to hear about desperate? I once knew this guy, puny little shrimp, and he was so desperate to impress this girl, that he'd only known for a week, that he wandered around an entire beach asking anyone he could find if they had peanut butter so he could give it to her. Now that's just sad." Sawyer said sitting down on a stool next to Claire.

"Not sad, Sawyer, effective." Charlie said putting his arm around Claire. "Peanut butter's like catnip for her."

"Sure. Claire when are you going to ditch this bozo and get yourself a real man?" Sawyer asked. Claire just rolled her eyes; having become completely immune to being hit on by Sawyer.

"Sorry Sawyer but it's never going to happen between us. I think you just need to move on." Claire said teasingly.

"Well when you get tired of him you know where to find me." Sawyer said pretending to be heartbroken.

"We actually don't know where to find you come to that." Charlie said.

"If you're asking where I'm going, even I haven't decided. But Hurley's planning on keeping tabs on everyone, so I'll probably drop him a line when I decide."

"What? The mysterious Mr. Sawyer is actually going to let people know where to find him?" Kate said sliding up behind Sawyer.

"No reason not to, Freckles. This little payday from Oceanic's gonna have me set for a while. Plus I don't want the press to have to look too hard for me."

"Not having to con people for a living; what will you do with yourself?" Kate said smiling.

"Something tells me that I'm not going to have any problem findin things to do with my time." With that he just got up and walked away. Kate started to leave but then sat down next to Claire.

"Claire, could I talk to you for a second, alone." Kate said. She and Claire looked toward Charlie who just shook his head.

"Well we know when we're not wanted. Come on, Aaron, let's go order dinner." He and Aaron walked off and Kate immediately started talking.

"I've been wanting to apologize for what I said that night on the boat. It was stupid of me to say that you and Charlie aren't great together. I was just freaking out about me and Jack and I was kind of projecting. I didn't mean to freak you out."

"Oh, no, it was nothing." Claire said not wanting to admit how upset the conversation had left her.

"Well I just wanted to make sure we were okay before I left." Kate said looking relieved.

"Aren't you coming to Shannon's big shopping trip tomorrow? We were all going to make that a sort of going away party."

"I've never been big on long goodbyes. Besides my father set up a meeting for me with a lawyer tomorrow. So this is pretty much goodbye for me." Claire immediately jumped up from her chair and wrapped her arms around Kate. Right then, it didn't matter what Kate had said, all Claire could think about was how her friend had been there for her when her son was born.

"I'm going to miss you. Promise me that you'll write to us in Australia; okay." Claire said trying not to cry.

"Yeah, of course. Umm look there's a few other people I need to say goodbye to. So, goodbye, Claire."

"Goodbye, Kate." Claire said as Kate walked away. As Claire walked over to rejoin Charlie and Aaron, Kate walked over to the back entrance. She turned around and looked over the room.

"Goodbye, everyone." Kate whispered, and then she walked out the door. No one saw her leave, which was exactly what she wanted.

When Claire got back to her table she saw that Shannon was waiting for her.

"Claire, what took you so long? I'm trying to get everything set for tomorrow. We're going to leave the hotel at noon, so we should get to the stores at the perfect time. Anyway it looks like it's going to be you, me, Libby, Nicky, Misty, and I even convinced Anna Lucia to come. Sun is still undecided so when you see her make sure you tell her to come. Sound good?" Shannon said.

"Yeah, it sounds like fun." Claire said.

"Great. I'll see you later." Shannon jumped up and walked off to find Libby.

"Can I come?" Aaron asked his mom.

"Sorry, honey, this is a girls trip. But later this week you and I are going to have a special day all to ourselves, Okay?" Claire said. Aaron nodded but still didn't seem satisfied.

"Don't worry, bud, you're lucky to get out of it. Girls are weird when they shop. You'll have much more fun having a guy's day with me and your uncle Hurley." Charlie said. This seemed to satisfy Aaron and he smiled and began eating the cheeseburger that Charlie had ordered for him. Charlie was about to say something to Claire when yelling grabbed the attention of everyone in the room.

"I'm not getting into this right now!" Shannon yelled at Sayid.

"I'm not just going to go away, Shannon. We've been together for too long for you to just end things and not even give me an explanation!" Sayid yelled back.

"Fine, you want a reason? How about this; I don't love you. I never did. The only reason I even stuck with you on the Island was because you would take care of everything!"

"That's a lie. I know you Shannon and I know how we felt about each other."

"Well you must not know me as well as you thought." Shannon said before walking out the door. Sayid made a move to follow her but stopped and sat down at an empty table.

"Do you think we should go talk to him?" Claire asked.

"No." Charlie said. "When you kicked me out of the tent, for the Mary statues, the last thing I wanted was people coming and talking to me like it would make things better. Let him be alone." Claire decided that Charlie was right and began to eat her dinner.

Later that night as the party was winding down Hurley found Charlie. "You guys having fun?" Hurley asked.

"You have a great place Hurley. You should open one in Sydney." Charlie laughed.

"Claire must be pretty stoked about going home."

"Yeah. I'm glad we decided to live there. I just hope that it turns out to be everything she's hoping for." Charlie said looking over to where Claire and Libby were talking.

"Dude, Claire is one of the most upbeat people I know. She was even able to make the Island home. I think you'll be able to make things work in Australia."

"So what are you going to do? Aside from keeping tabs on all of us."

"Well my mom kept all of my businesses while I was gone, so I guess I'll go back to running them. Plus Libby and I are going to try dating again." Hurley said smiling at the last part. Charlie smiled for his friend. Hurley and Libby had had a very on again off again relationship and Charlie was glad to hear that they were going to give things another shot.

"That's great Hurl." Charlie said. Hurley turned around at the sound of footsteps behind him and turned to see his brother Diego.

"What's wrong dude?" Hurley asked noticing the frustrated expression on his brother's face.

"There's this guy outside that won't leave." He said to his brother. "Wants to come in for a drink. I told him we were hosting a private party but he started going on about how he was sick of being told he couldn't go in places."

"You want me to go talk to him?" Hurley asked.

"Actually I was hoping your friend might." Diego said pointing at Charlie. Noticing their confused looks Diego explained. "The guy's British. I thought maybe he'd listen to you more than me."

"Sure let's give it a try." Charlie said. He laughed to himself at the irony of Charlie Pace being the one to turn a drunk away from a bar. Diego led Charlie and Hurley outside but no one was waiting for them.

"Guess he finally gave up." Diego muttered. The door opened behind them and Claire walked out holding a sleeping Aaron against her shoulder.

"I found you." Claire said smiling. "I think we should head back to the hotel. Aaron needs to get to bed."

"Little dude's had a lot of excitement today." Hurley said getting his keys. He loaded his friends back into his van and dropped them back at the hotel before heading back to the bar. On the drive back he wondered what the story was behind the British guy his brother had seen.

**AN: Yes I know no angst. I really shouldn't promise things until chapters have been written. Just believe me when I say its coming. Also I know not a lot happened this chapter, but it is all setting up for later. **

**PS. The first one to guess who the mystery British guy is gets a prize!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Lost. Any other questions see the previous seven chapters.**

**AN: I am truly dying to know what you think of this chapter. I have been working it in my head for a while. So I am desperate for reviews. Please review, please.**

Claire woke up the next morning to Aaron jumping on her bed. "What are we going to do today?" He asked jumping even more now that his mom was awake. Claire looked at the clock and saw that it was 8:00.

"What happened to the little boy who used to sleep later than I did?" Claire asked as she pulled Aaron down mid jump. This caused him to burst into a fit of giggling. "I hope I didn't leave him on the Island. You don't know where my sleepy little boy is do you?" She asked. Aaron laughed even more.

"I'm right here!" He yelped.

"No, you can't be Aaron."

"Yes I am."

"Well if you're sure." Claire smiled and got up. "I don't leave with your aunt Shannon until twelve, so until then we can do whatever you want." Aaron loved that idea and began thinking about what he wanted.

"Let's have breakfast." Aaron said after giving it serious thought.

"Did someone mention food?" Charlie said sitting up for the first time.

"It's time for breakfast, dad." Aaron said as he jumped over to Charlie's side of the bed. "Get up!"

"Didn't you always sleep until noon?" Charlie muttered rubbing his eyes.

"Apparently that was a phase." Claire said trying not to laugh. "What do you think we should do for breakfast?"

"Cereal! Can we have cereal, please?" Aaron begged.

"Don't you want to try something else for a change?" Charlie asked.

"No." Aaron answered simply.

"We could order room service." Claire said.

"No need. I saw last night that they have cereal and stuff at the breakfast downstairs." Charlie said.

"Charlie, I don't know if you've forgotten but, I don't have any clothes."Claire said smiling. Charlie blushed and remembered that they had sent all their clothes to the complementary cleaning service the hotel offered. Aside from what they had slept in they wouldn't have any clothes until 9:30.

"Right, well how about if I go and get the food from downstairs and bring it back up here?" Charlie suggested. "T-shirt and boxers is fine for that."

"That sounds good." Aaron said eager to get his cereal.

"Okay then, three breakfasts coming up." Charlie said heading toward the door. "Don't lock me out okay?" He yelled back. As he left the room he made sure to leave the door open a crack so that when he was carrying the food back in he wouldn't have to fiddle with a knob.

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As soon as his phone rang Liam bolted up to answer it. "Hello." He asked praying for good news.

"It's me." Karen said on the other end. "I finally got someone to talk to me and you won't believe what I found out." Liam waited anxiously. "Liam, Charlie is staying at the Merchant Hotel." For a second Liam couldn't speak.

"The Merchant Hotel? You're telling me that I've been going crazy looking for my brother and all this time he's been in the same hotel I've been in. That's insane."

"They said they didn't have specific room numbers but you should be able to find that out at the front desk."

"Yeah, God Karen, thank you so much for this."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go find Charlie." She said and then hung up before Liam could come up with an excuse to stay on the line. Liam didn't need to be told twice. He quickly got dressed and, after a quick look in the mirror, he ran down to the lobby. As he walked up to the front desk he made a point to be calm and collected; he didn't want a repeat of the guard from the day before.

"Excuse me, sir; I'm trying to contact one of your guests." Liam said as politely as he could.

"Certainly; if you'll just give me the name and room number." The man said.

"The name is Pace but I don't know the room number." Liam said.

"Alright, well fill out your message here and we'll make sure Mr. Pace gets it." The man said handing Liam a piece of paper.

"Actually I was hoping that I could go talk to him."

"I can't let you call up unless you know the room number. It's policy to insure the privacy and comfort of our guests."

"Well how about if you call up now and tell them that I'm down here. Then they can give you permission to let me up."

"We don't call up to the guests rooms before ten unless they have told us to. It's policy to ensure the comfort of our guests."

"Listen, my brother is up there and, he will want to see me. So if you could please just tell me the room number so I can go up there."

"As I am sure you can understand we also don't give out the room numbers of our guests; for the same reasons that I've mentioned before. Now if you want to wait until ten, then I can make a call but, until then you will just have to wait."

"I don't want to wait two bloody hours! Charlie Pace is my brother, now will you just give me his stupid room number?" Liam yelled.

"Dude, are you Liam?" Someone asked. Liam turned around to see a large Hispanic man standing behind him.

"Yeah, I am." Liam said. Probably some old DriveShaft fan, Liam thought.

"Charlie told me all about you. He was bummed you didn't show up to the reunion yesterday." That got Liam's attention.

"You know Charlie?" Liam asked.

"Yeah, we're buds. We were on the Island together. I'm Hurley." Hurley said putting out his had to shake. Liam quickly shook his hand.

"Listen, Hurley, I've been trying to find out where Charlie is so that I can talk to him. Do you know his room number?"

"Yeah man, he's in 815." Hurley said. Liam quickly thanked Hurley and ran up the stairs to the eighth floor. He was winded by the time he got there but he barely slowed down as he went door to door looking for the right room. After ten minutes he found it, room 815. He started to knock when he noticed that the door was already open. He pushed the door open all the way and saw an empty sitting room. He walked in and looked around and he still didn't see anyone. He smiled to himself, thinking that Charlie was probably still asleep, and was about to call out for him when he saw a bathroom door open.

"Welcome back!" He yelled, only to see a blond woman in a robe come out. She looked like she was about to scream but Liam beat her to it. "Oh my God I'm so sorry. I thought this was my brother's room, the guy said he was in 815. Liam began to back out of the room and immediately tripped over a suitcase. While he struggled to stand up he continued to apologize. "Really I didn't mean to… I was just, I'm really sorry to just break in like this." His ramblings seemed to calm the girl down enough for her to speak.

"It's okay; just make sure you knock before you try the next room." She said obviously believing that Liam was telling the truth.

"Yeah, good idea. I was just in a rush. I was supposed to see my brother yesterday at this reunion but I missed it and so." Liam was just about at the door when the woman interrupted him.

"What's your brother's name?"

"Charlie, Charlie Pace. And I'm"

"You're Liam." The girl said quietly. Liam looked up. "Charlie just left to get us some breakfast, but he'll be right back." The girl smiled at him and for a moment Liam was excited; he was finally going to see Charlie. Then he thought about what he was looking at. Charlie had been back one night and now there was a half naked woman standing in his hotel room. It didn't take long for Liam to see what was going on. Charlie was already slipping back into old habits. This girl was probably from an escort service and even if she wasn't, the kind of girl who sleeps with a guy she's known for a day was not what Charlie needed in his life right now. Liam was glad he had gotten to Charlie when he did and hoped that he hadn't already found a new dealer. First things first, if he was going to help Charlie then, he had to get rid of this girl.

"Listen, I haven't seen my brother in a long time, so I'd really appreciate it if you could head off so we could be alone." He said.

"Of course, just as soon as Charlie gets back I'll go so you guys can talk." She said.

"Actually I'd really appreciate it if you'd just leave now." The girl looked confused. "I'm sure you're great and all but Charlie's been through a lot and right now he just needs his family."

"I couldn't agree more." The girl said looking offended.

"Listen, you're really not getting it. I want you gone, now!"

"I'm not going anywhere. Who the hell do you think you are?" She looked like she wasn't going to back down.

"My brother has been through hell and I am not about to let some bitch like you make things anymore complicated for him. Now get out." Liam yelled grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the door.

"Get off me! Let go!" She yelled. Outside in the hall Liam heard a smashing sound and suddenly someone tackled him from behind.

"Get off of her." The man yelled. Liam turned around to hit his attacker and found himself face to face with Charlie. "Liam?" Charlie said confused. "What are you doing here?" He asked getting off Liam.

"I came to see you." He said.

"Why the hell were you attacking Claire?" He said looking over to the girl, who now looked extremely upset.

"I was just trying to get her to leave."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Charlie, I feel terrible about the way that we left things before the crash. I want to make it up to you, and I want to help you. Girls like this are not something you need right now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Charlie said suddenly sounding angry.

"You've been given a second chance at life, Charlie. Don't start it off with random hookups with whores you meet at clubs." Claire let out a small gasp and Charlie lunged forward and grabbed the front of Liam's shirt.

"Don't call her that. You have no idea what you're talking about. Claire isn't just some bloody hookup!"Charlie yelled before pushing him away.

"Fine, she's your soul mate." Liam said sarcastically. "Who cares? Right now we need to talk."

"You need to leave, Liam." Charlie said coldly.

"What?"

"I want you to leave. I'll call you when we get to Australia but right now I just need you to leave."

"Charlie I just flew across the planet to see you! I'm not leaving until we talk."

"Daddy, what's going on?"A small voice said. Liam looked up and saw a little boy standing in the doorway to the bedroom.

"Nothing, Aaron, go back in the other room." Charlie said not breaking eye contact with Liam.

"Why's everyone yelling?" Aaron said looking scared. Charlie turned away from Liam and walked over to Aaron picking him up.

"It's okay, we're done yelling, and he's leaving." Charlie said indicating to Liam. Liam felt frozen. All he could think was; did that little boy just call Charlie daddy? He started to say something to Charlie but he stopped him. "Just go Liam. I'll call you later." Then he stood waiting making it clear that the argument was over and Liam was to get out immediately. Liam walked to the door and before he shut it behind him he took one more look back at his brother. Charlie was still holding the little boy and had his arm wrapped around Claire. Liam walked back down to his room realizing that he may have just cut himself off from his brother's family for life.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Please don't sue me. I own nothing. Not Lost or even anything that would be worth suing for.**

**AN: I am going through review withdraw. I need my review fix, so please enable my addiction and tell me what you think of my writing.**

Claire was the first to say something after Liam left. "So, that's Liam. I have to say he wasn't exactly what I was expecting."

"I'm so sorry." Charlie said. "I don't know what he was thinking. I can't believe he would talk to you like that." Charlie handed Aaron over to Claire and collapsed on the couch. "Are you okay, Aaron?"

"I didn't like him; he was mean." Aaron said wrapping his arms around his mother's neck. After all of the threats to his family during his time on the Island, Aaron had developed an immediate dislike of anyone who scared or threatened his mom. Claire looked like she was going to say something to Charlie but then changed her mind and switched to Aaron.

"I think its past time for someone's bath." She said.

"What about breakfast?" Aaron asked.

"That would be on the hallway floor." Charlie added.

"We'll order room service. It'll be here by the time you're done." Claire said taking Aaron to the bathroom. Charlie watched them leave the room and tried to figure out what had happened with Liam. He couldn't understand it. Sure he could be a bit of a jerk at times; but insulting and practically attacking someone, even if he thought she was a groupie, went way beyond him. What was even going through his head that his first thought was that Claire was some kind of whore? Who did he think he was judging someone like that? He kept going over it in his mind and he just couldn't figure out what Liam was trying to do. "You okay?" Claire asked walking back in.

"I thought you were giving Aaron a bath?" Charlie said.

"I filled the tub with bubbles. He'll be playing in there for fifteen minutes at least. I figured we should talk."

"Well, at least he came." Charlie said trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work. "Look, Claire, I'm sorry for what he said to you but"

"This isn't about me, Charlie. You just saw your brother for the first time in three years and it ended with you kicking him out. We need to talk about that."

"I wasn't going to let him talk to you like that. Especially in front of Aaron" Charlie said. "I had to get him out of here."

"I know, and I'm glad you stood up for me, but what are you going to do now?" Claire said sitting down next to him on the couch.

"I don't know. I can't believe that he would act like that. Right now I'm not sure if I even want to see him."

"Don't say that."

"Why aren't you more upset about this? What do you want me to do, go back and get him?" Charlie asked annoyed.

"Of course not. You think I like being called a whore? I thought I'd gotten away from all of that when I left home and it's not something I was hoping to relive. But Liam is your brother and I don't want to be the reason you never see him again." Claire said.

"I don't know. I'll figure it out later. For now let's just get Aaron some breakfast." Charlie said. Claire looked at him for a minute and then leaned over and kissed him.

"If you need to talk." She said simply and then turned back to the bathroom to help Aaron finish up. Charlie grabbed the phone and quickly placed an order. When that was done he continued sitting on the couch. Whenever Charlie had thought of Liam, he thought he'd be proud of the person that Charlie had become and that he would embrace his new family. Charlie didn't know what Liam had been thinking that made him treat Claire the way he did. The one thing he did know was that Claire and Aaron were the most important things in his life. If Liam couldn't accept them into his life then he couldn't have Charlie in his life either.

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Liam trudged back to his room and collapsed onto his bed. How had he managed to mess things up so terribly? Charlie had a girlfriend, how had that not even occurred to him? He kept on repeating the scene over in his head. Why oh why did he have to act like such a prick? He dug through his coat and found his cell phone and called Karen. She answered right away and he launched right into his story. He told her everything from walking in, to yelling at Claire, to Charlie tackling him. She listened to the whole story quietly until he got to the part that had upset him the most. "Karen, when Charlie and I were yelling at each other this kid came out of the bedroom. He called Charlie daddy. He has a son Karen!"

"What!" Karen asked shocked.

"Charlie has a kid. At some point on that island Charlie had a kid. I can't believe this. Charlie can't be a dad."

"Clearly he can."

"Don't joke about this, Karen."

"Well listen to yourself, Liam. Charlie was on that island for years; is it really so hard to believe that he met someone and had a child?" Karen said.

"But this is Charlie."

"Liam, obviously a lot has changed with Charlie. You want my advice; leave Charlie a letter, tell him you're sorry and that you want to see him, and then come home. You messed things up a little, but I think if you give Charlie some time to cool off then he'll come to you."

"You think so?"

"He's your brother." She said. And for Liam, that was all he needed.

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By the time Aaron was clean and breakfast had been eaten it was almost time for Claire to leave for Shannon's shopping trip. "Maybe I should just skip it." Claire said. "We could spend the day together instead."

"No; Claire you've been looking forward to this. Besides, Hurley's been looking forward to having a guy's day with me and Aaron; you don't want to break Hurley's heard do you?" Charlie said fighting to keep a straight face. Claire couldn't help but smile.

"Wouldn't want to disappoint Hurley." She said getting up to leave. As they were going down the stairs Charlie asked Claire if she needed any money, seeing as they wouldn't get their Oceanic payments for another week, but she reminded him that the psychic had given her 6 thousand dollars before she got on the plane.

"You actually kept that the entire time we were on the Island?" Charlie said shocked. "Why bother?"

"Maybe you could just toss money away, Mr. Rock star, but I'd never had that much money at one time before. Besides I thought I might need it once we got off the Island." She said. When they got down to the lobby Hurley was there waiting for them.

"Hey, how was the reunion?" Hurley asked as they walked over. They looked at him wondering how he knew about Liam. "Oh, I saw Liam in the lobby. I was the one who gave him your room number. So how'd it go?"

"I'll tell you later." Charlie said. Before he could continue Shannon popped up out of nowhere and ran at Claire.

"Everyone else is already in the car. We're just waiting on Nikki." Shannon turned around to lead Claire to the car but Hurley stopped them.

"Hold on, I need to talk to Claire for a minute." Hurley said. Shannon gave him an annoyed look but then simply rolled her eyes and told Claire to meet her outside. Claire turned to Hurley and he handed her an envelope. "This is for you. Just don't let Shannon see it." Claire opened the envelope and saw an enormous amount of money.

"Hurley, what is this?" Claire whispered.

"That is ten thousand dollars in fifties and hundreds." Hurley said. "I want you to use it when you go shopping."

"Hurley, I can't take this. Besides I have my own money, I'm fine." Claire said trying to hand the money back.

"Yeah I know you have money. I also know that you'll spend that money on things for Aaron and Charlie. This money is specifically for clothes, nails, and whatever else it is that girls buy. And I will take it as a personal insult if at least half of that isn't spent today. Remember you're with Shannon, you have to at least try and keep up." Hurley said smiling.

"Hurley, this is incredible." Claire said feeling like she was about to cry.

"Yeah, I'm pretty awesome that way. And when you're shopping try and remember that Charlie is already going to buy Aaron everything in sight, so try and be selfish, just this once." Claire gave Hurley an enormous hug and then, seeing Nikki come out of the elevator, thanked him and ran outside to meet the girls. Hurley smiled and went to join Charlie and Aaron.

"What was that all about?" Charlie asked.

"Just giving Claire a little homecoming gift; nothing big. Where do you want to go first?" Hurley asked.

"First stop's definitely the toy store." Charlie said smiling at Aaron, who looked thrilled. Hurley snorted at Charlie's predictability. "Then I was hoping that you could help me with something important." Charlie's serious tone got Hurley's attention. "You seem like you know where things are and how to get them." Hurley nodded and Charlie told him what he was looking for.

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Shopping with Shannon was like training with an Olympic athlete; nothing was done casually. She drove the girls from store to store; stopping only when she spotted designer clothes or something in her size. Luckily she was in friend mode, so she was also willing to stop if she saw something in her friends' sizes. Other than that the goal was to keep moving. Shannon was well known among the stores in LA and, after calling to let them know she was back, was often greeted at the door and escorted around. Sun, who had grown up with lots of money, wasn't fazed by this, nor was Ana Lucia, who just didn't care about clothes. The rest of the girls were floored at the treatment that Shannon was able to get. So far, with Shannon's assistance, Sun had bought dresses for Ji Yeon and new suits for Jin, Ana Lucia had gotten jeans and a new holster (no one was quite sure where she found it), Libby bought tons of tops and cocktail dresses to wear in her new relationship with Hurley, Misty and Shannon bought one of practically every name brand and there was Nikki who got mostly lingerie. Then there was Claire who surprised everyone by not following Sun into the kiddy stores. While not in the same league with Misty and Shannon, she was working toward creating a new wardrobe to take back with her to Australia. "You know I've never seen this side of you before, Claire. I seriously love it." Shannon gushed as Claire paid for some new shirts.

"I figure I may as well get all of this out of my system before the baby comes." She said indicating to her new purchases.

"Well in that case can we please stop grabbing maternity clothes? You're not going to be pregnant forever." Nikki said.

"I'm going to be using them sooner than I'll use most of this stuff." Claire said defensively, glancing down to where she was starting to show.

"I am surprised that you're not buying more for Aaron." Sun said, guessing that there was more to Claire's shopping spree than she was admitting.

"Once I start buying things for Aaron I don't think I'll be able to stop." Claire said honestly. "Besides, everyone keeps telling me to do more for myself, I figure if I buy enough today it'll satisfy them for a while."

"You should spoil yourself." Shannon said. "We all should after what we've been through." Shannon went on about how the girls of the Island would need years of constant pampering to overcome their ordeal when she spotted a Starbucks. "Yes, that's what we need, latte's." She then herded the girls, who were relieved to finally have a place to sit, into the coffee shop. They ordered, grabbed a table and began talking. "So what's going on between you and Hurley?" Shannon asked Libby. "Are you two a couple again or what?"

"We're going to give it a shot. Hurley's really special and I think that, now that we're off the Island, we might have a real shot." Libby said thinking back to her time on the Island. Initially she and Hurley had paired off and things had gone well for a while. Then, as time stretched out and hope of rescue grew more unlikely, she had gotten more attention from the other guys. Libby, having never been the popular girl in school, was flattered by all the attention and dated around a lot. However she always seemed to end up back with Hurley.

"He's a major catch now." Misty said. Who'd have thought he was actually telling the truth about that whole winning the lottery thing."

"She's not dating him for his money." Claire said defending her friend.

"No, but it does make things a lot more fun." Misty said. Claire saw Libby's embarrassment and quickly tried to change the subject.

"So, Ana Lucia, what are your plans?"

"Get back to the force, make things better with my mom; we didn't separate on the best terms." Ana Lucia answered back. "How bout you, Shannon?"

"I just want to get back to the way my life was before and that includes shopping, parties, and boys." Shannon said laughing.

"I guess that means Sayid's out of the picture for good then?" Ana Lucia said bluntly. Shannon seemed taken aback for a minute but then recovered.

"Sayid and I are through." She said trying to sound convincing.

"I just want to get back to Korea so Ji Yeon can see where she comes from." Sun said quickly to take attention away from Shannon. "Jin wants to open a restaurant and with this money from Oceanic, that shouldn't be a problem."

"My dad offered me a share in his company before I left. I turned him down then but I may as well do it now. I've also been thinking about getting married. I'll probably get tons of offers once we're all famous." Misty said. Claire couldn't help but snort at the last statement and Misty glared at her. "I guess we all know what Claire's doing. Run off to Australia with Charlie, have ten kids and live out life as a soccer mom."

"More or less." Claire said smiling and refusing to rise to the bait. Nikki seemed annoyed to be ignored and threw in her thoughts.

"I like Misty's plan best. Taking advantage of the fame. That's what I want. I was talking with Paolo about it and we want to try and get as much press out of this as we can. Get as much money and fame out of Oceanic before we become old news."

"Personally I'm done with chaos. I'm ready to settle down with my family." Claire said.

"Sounds wonderful." Misty said sarcastically. Claire glared back at Misty and Sun quickly jumped in to stop a fight.

"If we're going to do any more shopping we'd better get going. I told Jin we'd be done by six." The girls agreed and left for another hour of shopping. The girls were loading into the car to go back to the hotel when Claire saw a store that she had missed earlier.

"You all go on without me. There's one more thing I have to get." Claire said jumping out of the car. "Just drop my bags at the hotel and I'll get them later." She said quickly before running off.

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When Claire got back to the Hotel she was surprised to see that Hurley's yellow car wasn't in the parking lot. She had expected Charlie to be back long before she was. She walked over to the desk manager and asked if anything had been left for her. He pulled out her shopping bags and called out a bell boy to carry all of her things to her room. She was about to follow him up when the manager handed her two envelopes. She looked at them and saw that they were letters for her and Charlie. Claire smiled when she saw that the first envelope had a message for Charlie from Liam. She looked at the second and saw that it was addressed to her; from her mom.

**AN: Charlie and Liam's reunion has nothing on what I have planned for Claire and her mother. Just something to look forward to.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Lost.**

**AN: Review, please! I have cookies. (She smiles and holds out a plate of eight sided cookies in the shape of an octagon.)**

When Charlie walked into his hotel room he found Claire sitting on the couch starring at a piece of paper. "What's that?" He asked sitting down next to her.

"It's a letter from my mum. You got one too; from Liam I mean." She said not looking up from the envelope.

"You haven't read it yet?" He asked.

"No."

"Are you going to?"

"Are you going to read the letter Liam left you?" Claire asked. Charlie just sat there and realized that he didn't know if he wanted to read Liam's letter. He picked the envelope off the table and stared at it. No he definitely did not want to read what Liam had to say. "Not so easy is it?" Claire said. Charlie nodded and then made a decision.

"We open them together. We read what they have to say and if it's not good then we toss them and move on." He said. Claire looked like she was going to argue but then nodded her head in agreement. Charlie counted to three and they opened the letters. Charlie pulled his out and immediately recognized Liam's sloppy handwriting. The letter went

_ Dear Charlie,_

_I messed up. Obviously a lot has changed since you left. I missed you so much when you were gone and I want you back in my life. You're my family and I hope you'll let me be a part of __yours__. You said you were coming to Australia. Please call me. Karen and Megan want you back too. The number is the same as always. _

_Love Liam._

At the bottom of the letter Liam's phone number was scribbled, obviously an afterthought, in case Charlie didn't remember. Charlie smiled and turned to Claire. "What's she have to say?" Claire looked confused and handed the letter to Charlie. Unlike his letter hers was typed. It looked like it had been a message copied off over the phone.

_Claire_

_So relieved to know you are safe._

_Couldn't make it to LA._

_Call me as soon as you get here._

_Looking forward to your return home._

_ Carole Littleton._

Charlie smiled. "It's a little short but she did say that she's glad you're okay. She probably just didn't want to gush to the message guy over the phone." Claire still looked concerned.

"She thinks I'm coming back to live with her."

"What do you mean?"

"Looking forward to your return home; she thinks that I'm going to come back and live with her."

"Isn't that good. Doesn't that mean she wants you back?"

"Yeah, of course, I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to explain everything to her."

"What's to explain?"

"Let's see; when I left I was single, pregnant and my life was a complete mess. Now I have a three year old son, I'm married, and I'm pregnant again for starts. That's not counting all the things that happened on the Island."

"Well at least the pregnant part should be familiar to her." Charlie said smiling. Claire smiled back and hit him on the shoulder.

"It's just a lot to take in. I lived it and there's times I don't believe all of the things that have happened to me."

"She'll be so excited to see you and her grandson that she won't even blink when you get to the part of the story with the polar bears." Claire smiled again but was still worried. She wanted her family to be a part of Aaron's life; her mother was a wonderful person. So why was she so scared to go back and see her? Claire shook off her fears. Things were going to work out fine.

"So I guess Aaron decided to hang out with Hurley for a while." Claire said.

"Actually I asked Hurley to watch him for the night. I wanted it to be just us for a bit." Charlie said suddenly seeming nervous.

"Oh, and what exactly did you have planned?" Claire said smiling flirtatiously.

"Something special." Charlie turned to Claire and took her hands. "Back on the ship people kept telling you that things were going to change when we got home. The more I see happen here the more I'm starting to think that's right. We're not going to be a big group anymore. Hurley's staying here, Michael and Walt are going to New York, everyone's going their separate ways. Lots of things about the way we got used to living are going to have to change." Charlie stopped talking and Claire looked at him nervously. "Some of that is for the best, but there are some things I don't want to lose." Charlie reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. "We got married on the Island. For me that will always be real; but people keep reminding me that it won't count here." Charlie opened the box revealing a diamond ring. "I'm sick of hearing people call you Ms. Littleton. I hate people thinking of Aaron as not having a dad, or questioning who this baby belongs to. I want us to be a family and I don't want anyone to be able to question it. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Claire Littleton. Will you marry me; again." Claire couldn't even speak. All of her fears for the future were forgotten as she kissed Charlie and took the ring.

"Yes." She said kissing him again. She slid the ring and laughed.

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Sayid was working on his third glass of scotch and trying his best to forget that he had ever left the Island. "You know, I always pictured you as more of a rum man." Ana Lucia said sitting down on the stool next to him. "I'll have a gin and tonic." She said to the bartender before turning back to Sayid. "So what's got you down?"

"Just reflecting." Sayid said draining his glass.

"Really; and exactly how long have you been down here _reflecting?" _Ana Lucia asked.

"About an hour; give or take." The bartender returned with Ana's drink, refilled Sayid's then left. She took a quick drink before talking again.

"What happened an hour ago?"

"You all returned from your shopping trip and I saw Shannon. A man was offering her his number; and she took it." He said taking another drink.

"Bitch." Ana Lucia said under her breath. "I know what you need." She said smiling.

"I highly doubt that." He said hardly looking up from his drink.

"You need a job." This clearly wasn't what Sayid was expecting and he gave Ana Lucia his full attention. "I watched you on the Island. You're a born cop. I have connections; I could get you a job by the end of the week."

"Thank you for the offer, but I doubt I would fit in such a career."

"You're wrong about that. I know my own; you are a cop." She downed the remains of her drink and stood up. "When you get over, Malibu Barbie, call me." She handed him a card with her number written on it. "I look forward to working with you, Sayid." Sayid watched her walk away and picked up the card.

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Claire woke up and immediately remembered what had happened the night before. She held up her hand with the ring and smiled. She rolled over to Charlie and kissed him. Charlie opened his eyes and smiled. "That's one way to wake a person up."

"I thought the night after a proposal deserved something better than coffee." Claire said getting up to get dressed.

"Who needs coffee?" Charlie said walking around the bed and wrapping his arms around her waist. "You'd better try that again, I think I might still be dozing a little." Claire pretended to be annoyed but gave him another kiss. She began to pull away when he picked her up and flipped her onto the bed. He leaned over her and smiled. "So tell me again how much you liked the ring."

"I love the ring." She said. Charlie moved onto the bed.

"What else do you love?" He said leaning in.

"HEY, Brady Bunch, open UP!" A deep southern voice called from outside their room. Charlie rolled off of Claire.

"Damn it, Sawyer." He muttered.

"I've got your kid out here and if you don't hurry up and claim him then he's coming with me!" Sawyer yelled. Charlie pulled on a robe and went to open the door. "Well look who finally decided to get up. I was about to call child welfare about this poor abandoned boy."

"Morning, Sawyer." Charlie said moving aside so that Aaron could come in. "Why is Aaron with you anyway?"

"I just came from saying my goodbyes at the International House of Hurley and I thought I'd drop him off on my way. What's wrong; did I choose a bad time?" Just as Sawyer finished talking Claire walked in also in a robe. "I've always had the best timing." He said smiling.

"Didn't you say you were making goodbyes?" Charlie asked annoyed at the way Sawyer was ogling Claire.

"I'm leaving for good. I figure I may as well do some traveling and enjoy that nice little gift from Oceanic." Sawyer said still staring at Claire.

"Well we'll miss you." Charlie said quickly.

"Stop by if you ever come through Sydney." Claire added.

"I will." Sawyer said enthusiastically. "See ya, small fry." He called to Aaron.

"Bye, Sawyer, love you." Aaron said from where he was lying on the couch. Sawyer seemed a little unsure of how to respond to the last bit so he just waved and headed out the door. A little while later Claire was sitting alone when she noticed a piece of paper had been slipped under the door. She picked it up and saw that it was addressed to her with the words 'for your eyes only' on it. She unfolded the paper and read the note.

_hey Claire_

_Don't tell Charlie, but I saw the engagement ring. Congratulations._

_Sawyer._


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Lost.**

**AN: To Ada23mon. Sawyer can't let anyone know that he is nice, so he had to just tell Claire; lest people know the truth. As always I love my readers and reviewers. Also Quarks, your review stumbled on one of the subplots that will be big soon. I don't think I'll tell you which one though.**

Rose Nadler sat quietly drinking her coffee in the lobby of the Merchant Hotel. She looked around her at the people getting up to go to work and the families beginning and ending their vacations. It was sights like these, simple scenes from life, that made her glad to be home. Some of the other survivors may want fame, fortune and excitement; but not her. Rose was happy to leave the fight for survival, which they had all gotten used to, back on the Island. She had retired just before finding out that she had cancer. Now that they were home, and with the checks from Oceanic, her and Bernard could enjoy their golden years in peace and quiet.

"I see I am not the only member of our group who is an early riser" Eko said walking over from the front desk.

"Good morning, Eko. Where are you off to so early?" Rose asked, noting the bag at his side.

"I am taking an early flight back to my church." Eko said. While having begun his career as a priest under false pretenses, Eko had long since come to realize that it was his purpose in life. As soon as he had arrived in LA he had made arrangements to return to the church he had left.

"I see you're not saying goodbye to anyone." Rose said.

"I am saying goodbye to you, now." He said with a smile. "Hurley's gathering the other night seemed an appropriate place to end things." He looked up at a clock on the wall and then back to Rose. "My cab will be arriving soon." Rose repeated her goodbye and Eko turned to walk away. Before he had gotten very far he turned back to Rose and added "I hope that you and your husband find the peace that you were always wishing for." Rose thanked him and watched as he walked away. Rose looked into the dining room where she could see Michael and Walt eating breakfast. They had said their goodbyes the night before and would soon be on their way to New York. Everyone was going their separate ways; people were regaining their lives. First Kate and Sawyer, now Eko, Michael and Walt; pretty soon everyone would have gone on with their lives. These people had been her family for the past three years and now there was a good chance that she would never see some of them again. She watched as Michael and Walt got up to leave; it was bittersweet to say the least. They were all moving on; Rose saw Bernard coming out of the elevator with their luggage and she let out a sigh. It was time for them to move on too.

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Charlie was packing up their luggage while Claire chased Aaron around the room trying to get him to put his shoes on. After a lifetime of bare feet Aaron couldn't stand to wear shoes. "You can take them off as soon as we're on the plane, I promise." Claire said as she dived at her son with a sneaker.

"No, I don't like them." Aaron repeated before Claire finally managed to corner him behind the couch. As she wrestled to get his shoes on Charlie looked at all the things that he and Claire had bought the day before and was thankful that she had thought to ship most of it ahead as opposed to trying to get it on the plane. As he finished sorting the things that they would be taking with them he noticed a large box that he hadn't noticed the night.

"Claire, what is this?" He asked picking up the large box and being surprised at how heavy it was. Claire looked over and smiled.

"I forgot about that. It's for you." She said.

"What do you mean you forgot; it's huge?" He asked bringing the big box over to the couch.

"I was going to give it to you last night, but then someone gave me this gorgeous ring and I kind of forgot everything." She smiled and waited for him to open it. Charlie saw how eager she was and decided to tease her a little.

"Hurley told me that you were only allowed to spend his money on shallow things for yourself. I don't know if I can accept this."

"I did use Hurley's money for my things. This I bought with the money I saved; but if you don't want it I can take it back." Claire said pulling the box away. Charlie put up his hand.

"I guess if you went through all that trouble I could at least open it. I can always exchange it for something better." Claire didn't say anything; she just smiled as Charlie opened the box and saw a guitar case. He quickly threw it open and saw a base guitar. Charlie had maintained his guitar on the Island for as long as he could but the tropical climate eventually made it completely unplayable. The day that Charlie had realized that he might never play an instrument again was one of the saddest days he had had on the Island.

"Is it the right kind?" Claire asked. "I tried to get the same one you had before. The salesman thought I was nuts asking so many questions when I told him I couldn't even play, but I wanted to get it right. Do you like it?" Charlie was speechless. How could he tell Claire what a gift like this meant to him? Finally he was able to squeak out the words.

"It's perfect." Claire looked relieved.

"I'm glad. Oh, and Charlie, make sure you take it on the plane with you this afternoon."

"Why?"

"Because if something goes wrong, and we end up crashing on a crazy Island, I'd really like it if you could play lullabies to our kids."

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They had only been back for a few days and already Boone was sick of Shannon. All of the growing up that she had done on the Island seemed to have disappeared. Ever since they had gotten back to LA all Shannon had done was call up old friends, shop, flirt with strangers, shop and talk about all of the parties she was going to throw. Boone was so fed up he didn't even want to be in the same building with her. When she was on the phone he took advantage of the chance and left the room.

As he left the hotel he saw Charlie loading suitcases into a taxi and getting ready to go to the airport. Boone knew that Charlie and Claire were eager to start their new life in Australia, but the idea of getting on a plane again, and so soon, made Boone's stomach cringe. He kept walking and soon found a coffee shop and decided to stop for breakfast. He was sitting at a table drinking an espresso when someone sat down in the chair beside him. "Glad to see you're all adjusting nicely." Boone looked at the woman who had just sat down. She was tall and had dark auburn hair; Boone thought she looked familiar but he couldn't place her. "So are you fleeing LA, or are you one of the few who's sticking around for a while?" She asked.

"I'll be in L… Who exactly are you?" Boone asked.

"Rebecca Norris." She said smiling and holding out her hand. "I was one of the nurses who checked you out the day you all came back."

"Oh, nice to see you again." He said awkwardly. She seemed to notice his tone and began laughing.

"I didn't follow you here. I come here every morning. You lucked into the shop with the best doughnuts on the planet."

"I guess I probably shouldn't be disappointed that you're not a stalker." Boone said smiling. She smiled back.

"I could always follow you back to your hotel if it will make you feel better." She said. Boone smiled back at her. He was suddenly very glad that he had gone out for coffee.

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While Claire and Charlie had to use all their nerve to get onto the plane going to Sydney Aaron was thrilled. He watched out the window through take off and asked a million questions about how planes worked. Claire smiled at Aaron's enthusiasm, but even that couldn't completely relieve the fear that she felt about getting on a plane again. Charlie clearly felt the same way and was gripping the arm rests so tightly that his hands were turning white. "Relax." She whispered into Charlie's ear. He loosened his grip a little, but that was all. Claire knew how he felt. However her biggest worry wasn't another plane crash, but what she was going to do if they landed.

Claire had told Charlie about the problems that she had had with her mother before she got on 815, but she had never told him the whole story. Claire looked down at Aaron and thought about how much she loved him. She also thought about how much it would hurt to have him say that he didn't love her back. That was exactly what Claire had done when she was seventeen. She had been going through a rebellion for months and her mother had been trying in vain to get her to focus on the important things in her life again. Things like school and her future. She had picked Claire up from school but Claire had insisted on driving. Almost immediately they got into a fight about Claire's job at a tattoo parlor. Her mother thought that Claire was meeting the wrong kind of people and Claire thought that her mother should just butt out of her life. The fight escalated until they were both bringing up every failure the other had ever done. That was when Claire told her mother that she hated her. A semi-truck had forced them off the road and their fight ended with Claire realizing that her mother was no longer in the car.

Her mother had been in a coma for months and the doctors had repeatedly told Claire that there wasn't much hope for her. They were wrong though; she did wake up. Claire was in the room when her mother regained consciousness and they both hugged and told each other that they were sorry and that they loved each other. If it had ended there things might have even turned out all right. Sadly though, while her mother's mind was intact, her body had been extremely damaged in the crash and she was in rehab longer than she was in a coma. She never said anything but, every time she went through a painful physical therapy session, she would give Claire a look that said it all. "You did this to me. This is your fault."

The accident changed Claire's life and after almost losing her mother she swore she was going to be a better person. She worked hard at this goal and even harder to repair her relationship with her mother. For a while it even seemed like they might have been able to fix things; but then Thomas entered the picture. Claire had dated all through high school but she had never met anyone like Thomas. She met him at an art fair her friend Rachel had taken her to and had been impressed with the passion he had for his paintings. She fell for him almost immediately and her mother couldn't have been more discouraging. She constantly reminded Claire about Thomas's inability to keep a 'real' job and his tendency to forget important events. But Claire overlooked all of his many faults and just enjoyed the feeling of being in love for the first time. When she and Thomas got pregnant her mother had been furious. Disgusted that Claire would make the same mistakes she had made. She told Claire that Thomas was a dead beat and that he would abandon her. Claire stopped speaking to her mother after that.

Of course her mother had been right and Thomas did leave. From the moment Claire told her mother about Thomas walking out, her mother had pushed her to give her baby up for adoption. She insisted that Claire could not raise the baby on her own. She practically kicked Claire out when she canceled her plans to let a couple adopt, at the insistence of Richard Malkin, and had all but pushed her on the plane when he told Claire that there was a better couple. She hadn't wanted Claire to have her baby. How was she going to act when she saw that Claire had Aaron and was pregnant again? Claire was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the stewardess passing out lunch until Charlie tapped her on the shoulder. She took her meal but couldn't eat. Charlie, noticing her mood, put his arm around her. "Everything is going to be alright. You'll see." Charlie lowered his voice a little. "Your mom is going to be so happy to have you and her grandson that she will forget everything else." Claire smiled and hoped that Charlie was right.

**AN: Sorry about the massive exposition at the end, but I am changing a lot of Claire's back story and I need to get it all in before she meets up with her mom. Did anyone enjoy it or should I go sit in a corner for forced reflections? Keep reviewing!**


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own lost or Castaway.

AN: Claire finally meets her mom. Yeah? Can't wait to see what you think so please keep reviewing.

Despite her anxiety, the first thing Claire had done, once their plane landed in Australia, was call her mother. Much to her relief though, her mother wasn't home and Claire was able to just give the number of the Hotel they would be staying at. It felt nice to have the job taken out of her hands; now, if her mother really wanted to see her, she could call. The ride to the hotel was long and uneventful; both Charlie and Claire not wanting to talk about the approaching reunions with loved ones. When they arrived Claire was shocked to find that her mother had already called and left a message for her.

_Claire_

_Thrilled to have you back_

_Will be home all day tomorrow_

_Call if you will be delayed_

_If not just show up_

_Can't wait to see you_

_Carole Littleton_

"I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow." Claire said as she showed Charlie the note.

The next morning Claire woke up feeling nauseous and couldn't tell if it was from morning sickness or nerves. "Don't be so nervous. She wants you back. She loves you." Charlie whispered in her ear.

"I just want to get going. Do you think it would be a bad idea to go over now? I was going to wait till this afternoon but…"

"She's probably been waiting in suspense since she heard that you were alive. I doubt she'll be bothered by an early arrival." Claire smiled and finished getting dressed. As they were getting ready to leave Claire stopped Charlie again.

"Maybe I should go by myself." She said.

"Why?"

"I haven't seen her in three years and I'll probably want some time just the two of us. Besides there are a lot of issues that I'm going to want to work out with my mom before I introduce her to my new family." Charlie understood what Claire was saying but wasn't fully convinced.

"How about if you and Aaron go first; have quality time and then I come by later?" Even though it had been Claire's idea to go alone she was still hesitant about agreeing. "I keep my cell phone on and stay nearby if you need me to get you." Charlie said reassuringly, and Claire was finally able to agree.

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Shannon smoothed her hair as her car approached the health spa. She pulled out a compact and took a quick look at her reflection. This would be the first time she was seeing her friends since she got back and she didn't want them to think she was any different. As the driver parked in front of the building Shannon saw her friend Tracy standing by the front door waiting for her. She jumped out of the car before it even stopped and ran to her friend. "Shan!" She shrieked seeing Shannon running toward her. "Oh my God! I can't believe you're back, I've missed you so much, I can't believe you've been alive all this time!" Tracy hadn't taken a breath the entire time she spoke and had to stop for a minute before continuing. "Everyone is inside and we are all so excited to see you!" Shannon smiled at her friend's enthusiasm. This was what she had wanted; to go back to her old life and to be the center of everything. Tracy took Shannon's arm and led her into the building. "Everyone came today and I scheduled all of your favorites. Massages, sauna, manicures, everything they have basically." She looked Shannon up and down. "I know that this will sound weird but did you gain weight while you were on that island?" Shannon paused for a moment and looked at herself in one of the many spa mirrors. "Forget it I'm just being crazy. No one gains weight when they're stranded. The girls are just through here." She said pulling Shannon into the café where her friends were waiting.

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Charlie stopped the car in front of the house but Claire couldn't seem to move. She held her hand on her seatbelt for a minute before Charlie finally spoke. "I can still go in with you."

"No, this should be just me and Aaron. I'll be fine." Claire said beginning to unhook Aaron from his car seat.

"Just remember, all you have to do is call and I'll come right over."

"I'll see you at two." Claire said trying to look braver than she felt as she and Aaron got out of the car. She stood on the curb and waited until Charlie drove away before turning to walk up to the house. She was almost at the end of the walkway when the front door flew open and her mother flew out. She wrapped her arms around Claire and just kept repeating her name over and over.

"I'm so glad you're back." She finally said. Claire was so happy to see her mother that she briefly forgot that she had been nervous. She hugged her mother back and told her how much she loved her. The two stayed like that for a while before their moment was interrupted by a tugging on the side of Claire's skirt. She looked down and saw Aaron, looking annoyed that no one was paying attention to him. Claire smiled and kneeled down next to her son.

"Mum, this is my son; Aaron." Claire said. Her mother stared for a minute and then her smile got even bigger.

"It's very nice to meet you Aaron." She said. Aaron smiled back at her. "I guess we have a lot of catching up to do. Why don't you two come inside and we'll have lunch." Claire took Aaron's hand and followed her mother inside the house; she couldn't believe how easy all of this was turning out to be. As they walked in the front door she immediately saw a large banner hung across the hallway. It said Welcome Back Claire! The sentiment was immediately echoed by at least two dozen of Claire's friends who had been waiting in the living room. Claire was entirely speechless. "I thought your friends might want to welcome you back too." Her mother whispered to her as she continued into the house.

Claire and Aaron were led into the living room where a small feast had been set out. Aaron immediately dived at the food leaving Claire to greet her friends. "I can't believe you're okay." Her friend Rachel said breathlessly. "When they said that you were coming back I thought that you were going to be like that guy from Castaway, but you look great."

"Thanks." Claire said as more questions came at her. So you have a son now? What was it like giving birth on an Island? Were you scared? What was the island like? How did you survive all that time? It went on and on; everyone wanted to know everything. Were you really close to the other people on the island? Finally a question that Claire wanted to answer; it would give her a chance to tell everyone about Charlie and the new baby.

"Give Claire a chance to breath." Her mother said coming over with a plate of food. Aaron jumped next to her on the couch and showed his mother his own plate. "I didn't mean for this to turn into another press conference." Her mother said apologetically. "We all watched by the way."

"Mum." Claire said taking a breath. "There are some things I was hoping that we could talk about. It's kind of important."

"Don't worry about it, Claire." Her mother said. "The things between us, that's all the past. I'm just glad that I have you and my grandson." She got up to walk away and Claire struggled to get up and follow her. Sure she was glad that her mother had forgotten her issues, but that wasn't what she needed to say. It was already 12:30 and Claire really wanted to tell her mother about Charlie before he showed up. She pushed her way through the crowd and found her mother in the kitchen.

"Mum, I really need to talk to you." Claire said.

"In a second. There's someone here who has been dying to see you." She said. She pulled Claire into a side room where Thomas was waiting.

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Samuel Parker had wanted to be a reporter from the time he was ten. Getting a job at the Daily Planet had been a dream come true. Sadly the reality of the job was that new reporters usually got stuck covering bland stories that few people ever read. He would have done anything for a story that would get peoples' attention; so when a man called his private line and said that he had a story for him, he was willing to give it a chance.

"I assume that you've heard of the Oceanic Survivors?" The man said. Samuel just rolled his eyes at that. By now everyone on the planet had heard of the group of people who had been rescued from an island after three years. It was big news.

"Yeah, I've heard of them." Samuel said thinking that the man was probably going to try and sell him pictures that he had taken outside one of their houses.

"What if I told you that I had inside information about what happened to the people on that island?"

"I'd say you've got a pretty good story." Sam said sarcastically. He listened as the man continued talking and he soon lost his attitude. He pulled out a notepad and began furiously copying down what this man was telling him. It even half of it was true than Sam was looking at massive fame before the week was out.

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"It's great to see you, Claire." Thomas said smiling.

"What are you doing here?" Claire said getting angry just looking at him.

"Your mom called me. She thought I might want to meet my son." He said.

"Yeah, well, he doesn't want to meet you, now get out of here." Claire said fighting the urge to start screaming at him. Thomas gave Claire a look and then wandered out of the room. Claire spun around to face her mom.

"Why would you invite him?" She asked.

"Because you had a son together and because Aaron deserves to know who his father is." Her mother said.

"The last thing Aaron needs is to have Thomas in his life." Claire said tensely. Her mother looked annoyed and walked out of the room saying

"I guess I'll see Thomas out then." Claire watched her mother leave the room and debated following her. She quickly decided not to and instead grabbed the phone. She quickly dialed and listened to the ring.

"Hello." Charlie said picking up.

"Charlie, it's me, do you think you could come a little early?" Claire asked.

**AN: So Thomas is back. What do you think? Fun times ahead. **


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: I don't own Lost or its Characters or anything yet that will get me money._

_AN: So, so sorry for the long delay. Teachers have been conspiring against me by all scheduling tests on the same day. But I have a break for a little while so I will try and get a lot in before that happens again. _

_To Lostin2004; I see what you're saying but I made Claire's mom different on purpose. I'm sure you noticed that I changed their backstory somewhat. As for Thomas, all I can say is, don't turn your back on him. Thanks for the review though. I like to know what people are thinking about what I'm writing. Now read on._

**13**

"You know what we should do tonight?" Trisha asked as the girls lounged in the sauna. "We should take Shannon to Blaze tonight."

"Is that the top club right now?" Shannon asked smiling. Trisha gave Shannon a patronizing smile.

"Not quite. I figured we should start you off with something a little quieter. Just until you get used to things again. But don't worry; with all the notoriety you've been getting lately, you'll be back in the best places soon." Trisha finished and the girls nodded in agreement. Shannon fought hard to smile and not shake Trisha. It was obvious that, in Shannon's absence, Trisha had taken over as head of the group. Shannon tried not to let it bother her and told herself that it wouldn't be long before she was queen bee again.

"So what was it like? Being on that island all this time?" Grace asked.

"Being at the beach every day doesn't sound too bad. I love your tan by the way." Tracy said.

"Shannon spending every day on the beach; that sounds like your junior year of high school." Trisha laughed.

"I can't even imagine being stuck out there all this time. What did you even do out there?" Donna asked.

"It's Shannon; I think we all know what she was doing. The only question is who she was doing it with." Trisha said.

"Oh, let me guess. I bet it was that cute doctor who did all the talking at your press conference right." Tracy said. All of the girls leaned in waiting to hear Shannon's answer.

"His name's Jack and we weren't together. He was way too serious for me." Shannon said.

"Knowing you, you probably went through all the guys in the first few months and then spent the rest of the time wishing you had a bigger selection." Grace joked, bringing laughter from everyone.

"Well we'll fix that tonight when we take you to Blaze. Remind you that there are plenty of gorgeous men out there just waiting for us." Tracy said smiling. The girls all began sharing stories about their most recent club activities and Shannon tried to ignore the fact that no one had actually asked her if she wanted to go to the club.

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When Charlie got to Claire's house the last thing he was expecting was to walk into a party. Claire hadn't been able to say much on the phone but her tone had made Charlie think that things were going horribly. He was greeted at the door by a girl who reminded him way to much of Shannon and who didn't even bother to ask who Charlie was. Charlie looked around at the crowded house and wondered how he was going to find Claire. He didn't have to wonder for long because he soon felt arms wrap around his neck and realized that she had found him.

"What's going on? When you called you sounded like you were about to cry." Charlie said.

"I'm so glad you're here." Claire said relieved that Charlie had come so quickly. "Come on, I want you to meet my mum before things get any more crazy around here."

"What'd she say when you told her about me?" Charlie asked.

"I haven't yet. I've barely had a chance to be alone with her." Claire took Charlie's hand and began leading him through the crowded room. "This day has been so unbelievable. At first my mum was great and I thought things were going to be okay with us. The next thing I know she's throwing me this party and she actually called Tho." Before Claire could tell Charlie what happened her friend Rachel jumped out.

"Claire, where have you been, I feel like I haven't seen you all day." Rachel said as she noticed Charlie. "Who's your friend?" She asked smiling. Charlie started to introduce himself when Claire interrupted him.

"Rach have you seen my mum anywhere? I really need to talk to her."

"I think I saw her in the living room a little bit ago." Rachel said. Claire quickly thanked her and pulled Charlie along with her.

When they got to the living room Claire still couldn't spot her mom. She scanned the room and wondered where to look for her mother next. "Claire, who's that talking to Aaron?" Charlie asked looking into a side room. Claire looked and saw Aaron talking to her mother and Thomas! Claire ran into the other room and yelled. "What do you two think you're doing?"

"Claire don't be ridiculous. Thomas has every right to see Aaron." Claire's mother said.

"He gave up any right to see Aaron when he walked out. Why would you even invite him?" Claire yelled.

"Claire a few days after you came back Thomas called me. He told me how much he regrets not being there for you and how he wants to be a part of Aaron's life."

"I don't know which is worse. That he is trying to pretend that he cares about my son or that you actually believed his garbage!" By now people had begun gathering around to see what all the yelling was about.

"Claire you should know better than anyone that a child needs a mother and a father."

"She has a point Claire." Thomas added.

"Shut up, you don't get to have a say in this." Claire snapped at him.

"You have no right to tell me that I can't talk to him." Thomas said.

"Actually I'm his mother so I can."

"God, you really are a bit"

"Hey!" Charlie yelled cutting Thomas off. "For someone who is meeting his kid for the first time you don't seem to be trying very hard to make a good impression. Some would even think there'd be better ways to introduce yourself than by calling his mom names."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Thomas demanded turning on Charlie.

"Get out of here, Thomas." Claire said.

"I was invited here to see my son and I'm not leaving until I do!"

"Don't yell at her!" Aaron yelled startling Thomas, who seemed to have forgotten he was even in the room.

"Fine. Say hello, tell him who you are and then we are leaving." Claire said glaring at her ex-boyfriend. Thomas smiled and kneeled down in front of Aaron.

"Hey there, Buddy Boy." Thomas paused for a moment before continuing. "I'm your daddy." Aaron gave him a confused look for a minute before replying.

"No you're not." Aaron said simply. Thomas smiled, misunderstanding what Aaron had meant.

"I know that I haven't been around but I am your dad."

"No you're not." Aaron said annoyed that this man wasn't listening to him. "He's my dad." He said pointing at Charlie. Charlie fought hard not to laugh, knowing how serious the situation was, but he couldn't suppress a smile. Thomas turned to look at Charlie.

"Now I know where I've seen you; you were at the Oceanic press conference." Thomas turned back to Claire. "So that's why I can't see my son. Because you hooked up with some guy while you were on that island and you didn't want **our **son to know what a massive whore you are. Tell me Claire, how many other guys did Aaron call daddy while you were out there?" Thomas probably would have said more but Charlie chose that moment to shut him up and punched him in the jaw. Claire walked over to Aaron who reached up his arms to be carried away. Then Claire, Aaron and Charlie headed for the door.

"Claire wait!" Claire's mother yelled as she ran out of the house after him. "What's going on? Who is this man?"

"This is what I was trying to tell you earlier." Claire said handing Aaron over to Charlie. "When we all crashed I met Charlie, he's been there for me since we met. He's helped me raise Aaron. We're getting married and… there are a million things that I want to tell you but right now I just need to go."

"Wait, we need to talk."

"I think I've heard enough from you for today." Claire said as she joined Charlie and Aaron in the car. As she closed the door behind her she heard her mother say something else but she didn't have the energy to listen. She told Charlie to get them out of there and he quickly drove them away. After several minutes of silence Aaron spoke up.

"Mommy."

"Yeah, baby?" Claire asked.

"I didn't like that man."

"Don't worry; you don't have to see him again."

"He's not a nice person." Aaron said before becoming quiet again. The car was quiet again and when Aaron spoke again it was so softly that only Charlie heard it and even then just barely. "We will see him again. He's a bad man."

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Ana Lucia had been sitting at her desk filling out paperwork for what felt like hours. While no one on the force had objected to Ana getting her job back they did require that she ease her way back into active duty. If there was one thing that Ana hated it was desk duty. The only thing getting her through the night was the fact that the next day she was going to be placed back on patrol. She couldn't wait to get back on the street. She was finally finishing up when her phone rang; when she answered she immediately knew the voice on the other end. "Does this mean you thought about my offer?"

"I have thought about what you said and I have decided to take you up on your offer." Sayid said.

"I'm glad to hear it. When can you start?"

"I have no current plans."Give me a date.

"If you're talking about an appointment I can arrange something as early as tomorrow. A date however… That requires a little more information."

"Is this how job interviews usually go in this country?" Sayid asked jokingly.

"Only the good ones."

"I will come by tomorrow for my interview. As for the rest, we can talk about that later."

"I look forward to it." Ana Lucia said as she hung up. She went back to her files and smiled as she thought about the next day. Shannon may not have been smart enough to stay with Sayid, no surprise there, but she was no Shannon.

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When Charlie and Claire got back to the hotel the first thing that they did was bring Aaron into the bedroom and find a show for him to watch. As soon as he was interested they went back into the other room and shut the door. "I can't believe that ass had the nerve to try and see you and Aaron. What did he think was going to happen?" Charlie said, fighting to keep his voice down so Aaron wouldn't hear.

"I don't know. I still can't believe my mother would invite him. God, I can't believe he would show up." Claire said before collapsing on the couch.

"We know how he got invited; he told your mom some sob story about how he wanted to be there for you since he wasn't there before. The question is what is he trying to get out of all of it?"

"He told us what he wants; he wants Aaron."

"He doesn't want Aaron. If he wanted Aaron then he would have taken care of the two of you when he had the chance. What he wants is for it to look like he wants Aaron."

"Why would he do that, what could he get out of it?"

"I don't know, I just know that I don't want him anywhere near Aaron."

"I'm never going to let him get near Aaron again. Even if he hadn't treated me the way he did, there's just something I don't trust about him." Claire said leaning over to put her head on Charlie's shoulder. Charlie was suddenly reminded of what Aaron had said in the car and had to stop himself from saying anything about it to Claire. Something like that would only make her more upset. "We need to stop thinking about this. It'll only make us nuts. Tell me what you did today." Claire said. Charlie thought about whether or not to tell her about the call he had gotten while he was out.

"I actually got a call a little bit before I talked to you." He said.

"Who from?" Claire smiled. "Was it Hurley?"

"No uh it was Karen, my brother's wife. She invited us over for dinner tomorrow." As soon as Charlie finished talking Claire fell back on the couch. Just thinking about another encounter with their families was enough to make her feel sick. "We don't have to go." Charlie said, thinking the same thing as Claire. So far the reunions hadn't gone especially well.

"Yes we do." Claire said. She looked at Charlie and knew that he was aching to see his brother again and was only holding back because of her. "He knows about me this time. No surprises, this should go better." Charlie looked at her for reassurance. "It will go better."

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"Hey Sam, Boss wants to talk to you." Someone said, leaving before Samuel cold get a look at him. He may not have been working for the Daily Planet for long but he had already learned not to keep his boss waiting. He quickly got up and hustled to the head office. As soon as he entered Mr. James began talking.

"I know I don't have the resume that some of these other guys have and I know I'm young but I want this job. I want this more than anything and if you give me a chance to prove myself I swear that you will not regret it." He turned around to face Samuel. "Does that sound familiar to you? That was the speech you gave me on the day I hired you. I gave you a chance and you know what I got instead? I got a hole in my local section. I have a story missing that was supposed to be delivered to my desk yesterday. Where's my story Samuel?"

"I'm sorry sir, I know that the dedication of the Sanitation Workers Memorial is important but"

"It's a piece of garbage but I wanted it for this issue, now where is it?"

"I am working on a story that is so much bigger than that."

"You've only been here for a few months. You don't get to decide what's a good story. You write what I tell you."

"Sir it's about the Oceanic Survivors." Samuel waited to be yelled at but realized that he actually had Mr. James's attention. "Last night I got a call from a man who has had inside access to the survivors. He said he wanted to work with me so I've been trying to check up on what he's telling me and get that written."

"What exactly does this guy know?"

"He knows a ton. For one thing the Survivors aren't telling everything that happened. When they got back they talked to some government officials and then all had to sign an agreement about what could and couldn't be talked about to the public. He even faxed me a copy of the agreement." Samuel waited to see how his boss would respond. He could decide that Samuels source was worthless or worse, he could take the story and give it to a more experienced reporter.

"So…" Mr. James said. "What else have you found out?"

_AN: So what do you think? Stay tuned for more chaos in the lives of the Losties. Watch for chapter 15 as I am planning something big for a __**Number**__ chapter. Love the reviews as always. Especially from Quarks and Ada23Mon for your constant interest. _


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: I don't own Lost or its Characters or anything yet that will get me money._

_AN: Okay so I know that it's been a while since my last update. I'm really sorry for the delay. I came down with a case of, how do I say this?, crippling depression. But I seem to have gotten past that and am back to fanficing. Hopefully I haven't lost all my readers. I really appreciate all of you who have been reviewing and asking me to come back. For all of you I present this nice long chapter and the promise of more frequent updates. _

14

"Claire I don't know if I can do this, it's hopeless." Charlie said from the bathroom. Claire went in to find him strangling himself as he struggled to put on a tie. Claire went over and helped him fix it.

"I thought famous people were used to dressing up all the time?" Claire laughed as she straightened his now perfect tie.

"Famous people also have assistants to tie their ties for them." Charlie muttered embarrassed.

"Why are you wearing a tie anyway? I thought you said that this was just casual." Claire said looking at the simple dress she had gotten while shopping with Shannon.

"I just want to make a good impression. I haven't seen Karen for a long time. I want her to see that I've got things together now." Charlie said looking into the mirror and trying to flatten down hair that never laid flat. Claire smiled at him, wrapped an arm around him and kissed him on the cheek.

"I think you look perfectly serious and grown up."

"Now you're just making fun of me."

"Only a little." Charlie smiled at how Claire could always seem to make him relax. "I don't know why you're so nervous. I'm the one walking into enemy territory." Claire said straining to look amused.

"You know that what happened last time, that wasn't about you. Liam was just so ready to see me as a bum that he just spread that onto you. He and Karen just need to get to know you. They're going to love you… I know things didn't go so well last time, but once they know who you are they are going to love you." Claire couldn't help but lose her smile as she thought about her last meeting with Liam.

"It'll be great." She told Charlie as he went into the other room to finish getting ready. "But I'd settle for not being called a whore." She said quietly to herself.

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When Shannon had agreed to let Grace set her up on a date she had insisted that Boone and his new girlfriend come too. She had been hoping that with Boone around she would at least have someone to talk to, someone who knew her as more than just a pretty face with a shopping addiction. The reality was that Boone had hardly looked away from Rebecca all night leaving Shannon stuck listening to her date talk about himself while Grace and her date drooled all over each other. She tried to smile and seem interested as her date talked about how his father had made him his executive assistant, a job that sounded great and didn't actually require him to do anything.

It had been like this since she had reunited with her old friends. Every night was a different club or date. She was constantly surrounded by gorgeous and rich guys who wanted nothing more than to tell her how beautiful she was. She had enough money to go shopping every day and buy anything that she wanted. She was living the life that she had always wanted to live. She was bored out of her mind!

She didn't know what was wrong with her. She was always doing all the things she loved and it wasn't like her friends had changed while she was away. Her date was talking about some actor singer he'd had lunch with the year before and she tried to look interested. This guy was everything that Shannon used to look for in a guy; he was cute, rich and totally into her but she couldn't even remember if he'd said his name was Todd or Ted. When the dessert menus were handed out she turned to Boone for something to talk about.

"Remember the time that Libby thought she could make pudding out of the plants in Sun's garden and some coconuts?" Shannon laughed.

"What? Oh yeah, that was great, you know Rebecca was just telling me that she graduated from Harvard medical school." Boone said never taking his eyes off his date.

"Harvard, really, you know Natalie Portman went to Harvard. My fathers' firm actually holds a few of her accounts." Todd/Ted bragged.

"Fascinating." Shannon said sarcastically. "I think I need to go to the bathroom." She muttered as she bolted to the nearest restroom. Once inside she went to the sink and splashed water on her face. "What is wrong with me?" She asked her reflection. "You have everything you ever wanted so stop acting like such a nut." She grabbed some towels to try and dry off her face and began to think about all the things she had wanted. She thought about how she used to dream about being a professional dancer and how she had actually worked harder at learning French than she ever admitted. Finally she thought about the one person who knew about all of the dreams that she had had and how he'd never once seemed to doubt that she was capable of achieving them. She wondered what he was doing and then had to stop herself. He was part of her Island life and that was over now. Shannon took one last look at herself in the mirror before turning around and throwing up everything she had eaten that night.

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Sayid had taken Ana Lucia up on her offer and was becoming a California police officer. While he was mildly disgusted with how easy it had been to get the job he was nevertheless grateful. "So how'd the uniform fit?" Ana Lucia asked as he came out of a locker room.

"Perfectly." He replied. "Although I doubt I'll be wearing it anytime soon."

"Everyone starts out working the desk; you'll be on the streets in no time." She smiled. "So how about I take you out and we celebrate your new job?"

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"So should we knock or just stand here?" Claire asked.

"I'll knock." Charlie said staring at his brother's front door and continuing to stand completely still.

"It's been almost ten minutes; do you want me to do it?"

"No, I've got it, just give me a second." Charlie muttered. Before he had a chance to think of a good excuse for why they should head back to the hotel, Aaron had reached out and rung the doorbell. "Aaron!" Charlie yelped in surprise.

"I wanted to know what it did." Aaron said innocently just as the door opened.

"Charlie, I can't believe this. It is so good to see you." Karen said as she grabbed Charlie in an enormous bear hug.

"It's good to see you too, Kare." Charlie gasped, struggling to breath. "I'd like you to meet"

"Claire." Karen said moving to greet Claire. "Charlie told me about you on the phone. I'm so glad to meet you and your son." Claire was a little overwhelmed by Karen's energy but was able to manage a greeting and follow her inside. "Would any of you like something to drink?" Charlie and Claire nodded and Karen rushed to the kitchen to get drinks. "Just make yourselves at home." She called behind her. "Liam, they're here, grab Megan and get down here!" She called.

"You ready for this?" Charlie whispered to Claire. She started to answer when a little girl came running into the room. She took one look at Charlie, let out a squeak, and then ran back out of the room.

"Megan, honey, come back!" Karen yelled when she walked back into the room. "She's just so excited to see you." She handed out drinks and motioned toward the couch. "Sit down and relax, I don't know what's taking Liam so long. I'll be right back." She said before disappearing out of the room again. Charlie sat stunned, trying to remember if Karen had been so hyper the last time he'd seen her.

"Hey, baby brother." Liam said as he walked into the room. As angry as Charlie had been at Liam for insulting Claire, he'd still spent three years missing him and couldn't stop himself from hugging his brother.

"It's good to see you too, Liam." Charlie said as he moved away. "You uh look good."

"Yeah, you too." Liam replied turning to face Claire. "It's _Claire _right? I guess I owe you an apology for the last time we met, huh."

"Found Megan." Karen said coming back into the room with her little girl. "Megan has been so excited to see her uncle Charlie again. She's been talking about it all day." Megan stood meekly by her mother and after a minute was able to muster a small wave at Aaron. "She's really been looking forward to meeting your son."

"Yeah, Megan, why don't you take Alan up to your room and show him your toys?" Liam said.

"My name's Aaron." Aaron said confused.

"Right, Aaron, um why don't you and Megan go and play until dinner?" Liam said wanting to kick himself. Karen had told him at least five times that day about Charlie's son and he'd still managed to mess up the kid's name. Megan took Aaron off to her room and left the parents alone. Without the kids around to distract each other the adults quickly found themselves trapped in an uncomfortable silence.

"So how have you all been adjusting to being back?" Karen asked hesitantly.

"So far things have been going well." Charlie said putting his arm around Claire. "It's been a little weird reconnecting with _some _people, but after three years that kind of makes sense."

"It must be strange seeing how things have changed while you were gone." Karen added.

"Yeah, that and the fact that people don't expect us to have changed at all. My mom actually tried to set me up with my old boyfriend when I went to see her." Claire revealed.

"Must have been fun for you, huh Charlie?" Liam joked.

"At least no one's going to be able to make _that _mistake for much longer." Claire said with a smile holding out the hand with her new engagement ring.

"You're getting married?" Liam whispered.

"Congratulations!" Karen gushed.

"Technically we're already married, there was a priest on the Island, but we wanted to make things official."Charlie said. Karen excitedly began questioning Claire about wedding plans while Liam sat on the couch looking dazed.

"When do you think you'll have the wedding?" Karen asked.

"We were thinking of having it in September." Claire offered.

"That's only four months away!" Liam said.

"We want to get married soon and September is when we met. Besides we don't want to wait any longer because the baby's due in October; not to mention Aarons birthday." Charlie finished with a smile at Claire.

"You're pregnant?" Liam yelled staring at Claire.

"I told Karen that when I talked to her." Charlie said confused.

"So, Claire, you said Aarons birthday is in October. It must be exciting to think of his first birthday off of that Island." Karen said trying to change the subject to a safer topic.

"He's growing up so fast. It's hard to believe that he's going to be four in just a few months." Claire muttered awkwardly.

"Four? I thought you two met on the island?" Liam asked, suddenly very focused on Claire. Karen tried to shush him but he ignored her.

"We did and before you ask; I was eight months pregnant when we crashed." Claire said matching Liams glare.

"So Charlie's not really Aarons father then?" Liam asked.

"Biologically no; but Charlie **is **Aarons father." Claire stated.

"Now it makes sense." Liam sneered.

"What's wrong with you?" Charlie asked his brother.

"Wake up, baby brother, the girl's just using you. She lets you take care of her and some other guys kid on the island and now she's going to do the same thing here. Only you would manage to find a gold digger in the middle of nowhere." Liam finished with a laugh. Charlie jumped up like he was going to punch Liam but then stopped himself.

"Go to hell, Liam." Charlie said coldly. "Aaron, get down here, we're leaving!" Charlie yelled. Immediately Aaron and Megan came out of the next room where they'd been listening in. Claire snatched up her son and made a beeline for the door. "Karen, you know that phone number I gave you?" Karen nodded her understanding. "Throw that out." Charlie said before leading his family out the door.

"Can you believe her?" Liam grumbled as soon as they were gone.

"Are you insane?" Karen asked.

"What, I'm just trying to protect my brother from psychos. He'll thank me when he realizes it."

"He's not going to thank you, Liam, at this point I don't know if he's ever going to speak to you again." Karen said sadly.

"What are you talking about?" Liam said stubbornly.

"Wake up, Liam, things have changed. Charlie has changed." Karen said as she left the room to leave Liam to figure out how badly he'd messed up.

_AN: As always reviews are what keep me writing so keep them coming._


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